Victor Harold BLAKE OBE

BLAKE Victor Harold, OBE died peacefully on 3rd December 2018, aged 83. Victor Blake was born in Essex on 19th October 1935. From humble beginnings, Victor rose to become a leading figure in the London reinsurance market as Chief Executive Officer with CNA International Reinsurance Company Limited from 1976-1994 and also founded the London Underwriting Centre, which opened in 1993. Victor left school at the age of 16 to take his first job at Lloyds of London performing clerical duties. He then joined an underwriting syndicate and began moving through the ranks. After marrying Valerie Billington in 1963, Victor accepted the position of underwriter with CNA Group in Chicago in 1964, where he spent the next 12 years. Three children, Kevin, Chrissie, and Courtney were born between 1964 and 1969. By 1976, Victor had risen to the rank of vice president with CNA and he was given the green light to establish CNA International as a leading player in the London reinsurance market during the second half of the 1970s and throughout the 1980s before he became the driving force in establishing the London Underwriting Centre, where he served as founding chairman. For his efforts, Victor received the Order of the British Empire award at Buckingham Palace on 11th February 1997. After retiring from CNA International, Victor took the position of chairman and Chief Executive Officer of La Salle Reinsurance Company Limited, in Bermuda in 1994, which he held until 2000. Victor was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in early 2017. He died peacefully in his sleep at Claremont Care Home in Guildford, on 3rd December. He is survived and dearly missed by his wife and children and his grandchildren Aimee, Georgia, Ian, India, Josh, Max, Rory, and Yasmine, as well as his brother Barry and sister Ruth.