{{short description|Canadian insurance company (1879–1995)}} {{Infobox company | logo = File:North American Life logo.png | logo_size = 120px | image = Finch Station Landscape - panoramio.jpg | image_caption = North American Life Centre in Toronto | type = Mutual | industry = Insurance | founded = {{Start date|1879|5|15|df=y}} | defunct = {{End date|1995|12|31|df=y}} | fate = Merged into Manulife | location = Toronto, Ontario }}
The '''North American Life Assurance Company''', commonly known as '''North American Life''', was an insurance company headquartered in Newtonbrook, Toronto, Ontario.
In 1995, it was one of the largest mutual insurance companies in North America with US$4.48 billion in assets before merging with The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company to form Manulife Financial the following year.<ref name=":2">{{cite news |title=Insurers Agree To a Merger In Canada |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/08/business/insurers-agree-to-a-merger-in-canada.html |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=The Associated Press |date=8 September 1995}}</ref>
== History ==
=== Nineteenth century === Following the defeat of the Liberal government in the federal election of 1878, the outgoing prime minister Alexander Mackenzie moved from Ottawa to Toronto. The following year, Mackenzie's friends endeavored to find him employment and decided to sponsor the incorporation of an insurance company. The company was formed on 15 May 1879, when the "Act to incorporate the 'North American Mutual Life Assurance Company' " received royal assent.<ref>''[https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_08051_8_2/67 An Act to incorporate the "North American Mutual Life Assurance Company"]'', SC Victoria 42 (1879), c. 73.</ref> Mackenzie served as its first president and George William Allan, a Conservative, as vice-president.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Stevens|first=O. B.|title=North American Is A Way of Life: 1881-1956|publisher=North American Life Assurance Company|year=1956|location=Toronto|pages=}}</ref> Apart from Allan, virtually all of the company's founding members were Liberal luminaries, among them Donald Alexander Macdonald, Edward Blake, George Brown, Richard John Cartwright, and OIiver Mowat.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Biography – MACKENZIE, ALEXANDER – Volume XII (1891-1900) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mackenzie_alexander_12E.html|access-date=2022-02-16|website=www.biographi.ca}}</ref> From its inception, the company was national in scope, having agents in all provinces by 1882. Mackenzie served as president until 1892, though for the last few years he was inactive. He was succeeded by John L. Blaikie.
Early management of the company was decentralized and vested in five standing committees with a board of twenty-five members. In the first three months following its founding, the company issued 1,131 policies worth a total of $416,634, and by 1900 had 17,402 policies in force for a total value of $25,575,142.<ref name=":0" />
=== Twentieth century === left|thumb|From 1898 to 1932, the company occupied the former United Empire Club Building, designed by Grant & Dick in 1874. It was remodeled by Langley & Langley. thumb|North American Life headquarters at 112 King Street West in Toronto, 1932 (demolished in 1976)
During World War I, the company's assets rose by 25%, with $2,000,000 of these assets being invested in victory bonds. The Great Depression saw a substantial increase in lapsed policies and a sharp decrease in returns on the company's investments.
In 1931, the semicentennial anniversary of the company's founding, a motion in support of mutualization was passed during a special general meeting. These efforts were met with hostility by those who accused the company of embezzlement under the guise of mutualization, with an investigation by the Banking and Commerce Committee of the House being called for in Parliament by Michael Luchkovich.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=House of Commons Debates, 17th Parliament, 3rd ... - Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources|url=https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.debates_HOC1703_01|access-date=2022-02-17|website=parl.canadiana.ca}}</ref> A defence of the company in Parliament was launched by prime minister R. B. Bennett, who stated that North American Life "belongs to the policy-holders" who had unanimously enacted to mutuallize; no investigation was subsequently launched.<ref name=":1" />
The board and management of the mutualized company included Thomas Bradshaw as president and D. E. Kilgour as general manager, with George Stewart Henry and Louis-Alexandre Taschereau among its directors.<ref name=":0" /> Since its founding in 1881, the company had occupied the old United Empire Club building at 112 King Street West in Toronto. In 1932, the company opened its new headquarters at the same address, which was designed in the Art Deco style by Marani, Lawson & Morris.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Torontoist|date=2010-02-13|title=Historicist: North American Edifice Complex|url=https://torontoist.com/2010/02/historicist_north_american_edifice_complex/|access-date=2022-02-17|website=Torontoist}}</ref> This building was demolished in 1976, with some of its decorative features being moved to the grounds of the Guild Inn.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hauch |first1=Valerie |title=Once Upon A City: Guild Inn an artists' muse that still inspires |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/05/05/once-upon-a-city-guild-inn-an-artists-muse-that-still-inspires.html |newspaper=The Toronto Star |date=5 May 2016 }}</ref> By 1935, sales of life insurance had returned to normal.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-29 |title=Understand Your Windshield Insurance Coverage |url=https://www.speersautoglass.ca/understand-windshield-insurance-coverage/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |language=en-US}}</ref>
==== Post-war era ==== During World War II, the company saw its total business in force increase at a rate of 9% per annum, from $239,456,765 in 1939 to $362,085,616 in 1945.<ref name=":0" /> In the immediate post-war period, the company grew substantially, passing the $1 billion in force mark in 1954 with a yearly business increase of between 12% and 14%. This was owed to the company shifting its investments into mortgages and an increase in its number of group insurance policies.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|1291577793}} |title=Reports Good Year: North American Life New Business at Peak |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto, Ont |date=7 February 1956 |page=22 }}</ref> In 1984, the North American Life Centre was opened at 5650 and 5700 Yonge Street in Toronto, which features a sculpture of the company's logo by Burton Kramer.<ref>{{Cite web| title=North American Centre, 5650 & 5700 Yonge Street, Toronto - Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report | date=2013-06-19 | url=https://www.csaregistries.ca/files/projects/4775-1449_GHGReport_20120501_20130430.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217031805/https://www.csaregistries.ca/files/projects/4775-1449_GHGReport_20120501_20130430.pdf | archive-date=2022-02-17}}</ref> The new building was shared with Xerox, and was constructed on the site where prime minister Lester B. Pearson was born; a commemorative plaque can be found on the facade. By 1987, total assets numbered $3.7 billion.
==== Amalgamation ==== In 1992, North American Life posted a 25% fall in profits as a result of higher health insurance claims and lower investment income from its real estate and equity portfolios.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|1151740287}} |title=INVESTMENT NEWS: North American Life posts 25% fall in profit |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto, Ont |date=16 November 1992 |page=B9 }}</ref> In 1996, the company amalgamated with The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company to form Manulife Financial. With this amalgamation, Manulife Financial acquired ownership of Elliot & Page Limited, a mutual funds company, and entered into the mutual fund business, renaming the new subsidiary Manulife Financial Asset Management Limited.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Manulife Financial Corporation {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/manulife-financial-corporation|access-date=2022-02-17 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}}</ref> The new company became the largest group life and health carrier in Canada, representing 13% of the market at the time of the amalgamation.<ref name=":2" />
== Leadership ==
=== President ===
# Alexander Mackenzie, 1881–1892 # John Lang Blaikie, 1892–1912 # Edward Gurney, 1912–1916 # Leopold Goldman, 1916–1927 # William Benjamin Taylor, 1926–1928 # Thomas Bradshaw, 1928–1939 # David Errett Kilgour, 1939–1946 # Norman Stuart Robertson, 1946–1955 # William Matheson Anderson, 1955–1963 # John Tennant Bryden, 1963–1966 # George Ryrie, 1966–1972 # David Walter Page Pretty, 1972–1980 # Andrew Gilmour McCaughey, 1980–1987 # William Elwood Bradford, 1987–1993 # John Gerard Lynch, 1993–1995
=== Chairman of the Board ===
# James Henry Gundy, 1928–19?? # Thomas Bradshaw, 19??–1939 # Frank Augustus Rolph, 1939–1941 # Norman Stuart Robertson, 1955–1963 # William Matheson Anderson, 1963–1969 # John Howard Taylor, 1969–1986 # Gordon Peter Osler, 1986–1995 # Robert Willem Korthals, 1995
== See also == * List of Canadian insurance companies
== References == <references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:North American Life}} Category:Manulife Financial Category:Defunct companies of Ontario Category:Defunct insurance companies of Canada Category:Financial services companies based in Toronto Category:Financial services companies established in 1881 Category:Health insurance companies of Canada Category:Companies based in Toronto