Setting the Bar High

For the largest US mutual life insurer, the story begins in 1845 in an office at 57 Wall St in New York. That was when James DePeyster Ogden was elected president of the fledgling Nautilus Insurance Co. Four years later, coinciding with the company's move to establish a general agency force, it was rechristened with the now-familiar name New York Life Insurance Co. The provider of life insurance, annuities, pensions, and savings products established a number of firsts. In 1894, when most refused to underwrite women at all, New York Life became the first life insurer to charge women the same premium rates as men.