Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG) is a US-based global insurance brokerage and risk management services firm headquartered at the Gallagher Centre in Itasca, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago). The firm was established in 1927 and is the third largest insurance broker in the world.

History

The company dates back to 1927 when Arthur James Gallagher started a brokerage firm in Illinois. The end of World War II brought his three sons, John, Jim, and Bob, into the business. The company incorporated in 1950 when revenues were $175,000. In 1957, the firm reached a high point of its history thus far, winning Beatrice Foods Company as a client, usurping the nation's largest brokerage.

Despite the stiff competition in a crowded domestic market that put steady downward pressure on property and casualty premiums during the 1990s and dating back to the late 1980s., the firm was still able to record double-digit growth in all but three years from 1990 through 2000, according to Investor's Business Daily.

Gallagher

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Arthur

Arthur is a common masculine given name. Its etymology is disputed, but its popularity derives from its being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur.

Art and Artie are diminutive forms of the name. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur.

Etymology

The origin of the name Arthur remains a matter of debate. Some suggest it is derived from the Roman nomen gentile (family name) Artōrius, of obscure and contested etymology (but possibly of Messapic or Etruscan origin). Some scholars have noted that the legendary King Arthur's name only appears as Arthur, or Arturus, in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as Artōrius (although the Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). However, this may not say anything about the origin of the name Arthur, as Artōrius would regularly become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh.

Another possibility is that it is derived from a Brittonic patronym *Arto-rīg-ios (the root of which, *arto-rīg- "bear-king" is to be found in the Old Irish personal name Art-ri) via a Latinized form Artōrius. Less likely is the commonly proposed derivation from Welsh arth "bear" + (g)wr "man" (earlier *Arto-uiros in Brittonic); there are phonological difficulties with this theory—notably that a Brittonic compound name *Arto-uiros should produce Old Welsh *Artgur and Middle/Modern Welsh *Arthwr and not Arthur (in Welsh poetry the name is always spelled Arthur and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in -ur—never words ending in -wr—which confirms that the second element cannot be [g]wr "man").