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WASHINGTON,
May 12,
2004/Satnews/ The man who pioneered the insurance of
commercial satellites, retired insurance executive James
Barrett died of arrhythmia May 1 aboard his yacht in the
Bahamas. Barrett was the first
to offer insurance to commercial satellites, when in 1963 he
pitched to the then nascent Communications Satellite Corp.
(COMSAT) the idea of insuring their satellites. He held
contracts to insure COMSAT satellites till 1973.
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James Barrett |
He formed
his own insurance brokerage company, the James W. Barrett Co.
in 1963. He sold the company to Kaiser Industries and
became president of Kaiser's California insurance subsidiary,
Underwriters Services Inc. in 1970.
In 1977,
Barrett become president and chief operating officer of
Corroon and Black Inc., a subsidiary of one of the nation's
largest insurance brokerage firms, and started International
Space Risk Management Systems (Inspace) in Bethesda as a
subsidiary. In 1983, he left Inspace and founded International
Technology Underwriters Inc. (Intec), the first insurance firm
specializing in underwriting space ventures. In 1992, he
sold the firm to AXA Group, a French insurance company.
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