Remembering ARIAS Founder, Insurance Law Leader, T. Richard Kennedy.

AuthorAcunto, Steve
Position[FOREWORD]

A great friend and a true catalyst in the insurance and reinsurance communities, Dick Kennedy was a leader in the field of insurance law and in reinsurance dispute arbitration.

Thomas Richard Kennedy (1935-2019), founder of the ARIAS, the national reinsurance and insurance arbitration society, passed away peacefully at the Avow Hospice House, in Naples, Florida on February 14, 2019 surrounded by his family. The cause was complications due to Parkinson's Disease.

He was wholly committed to developing and maintaining attorney professionalism and independence, writing and presenting extensively on the subjects and serving as Chair of the ABA's Standing Committee on Professional Discipline and NYSBA's Standing Committee on Attorney Professionalism.

As Senior Partner of Werner & Kennedy and General Counsel to American Skandia, Inc. he was a pre-eminent member of the insurance bar throughout his 45-year career, serving as Chair of the American Bar Association Tort & Insurance Practice, Chair of the New York State Bar Association Insurance Section, President of the U.S. Chapter of the International Association of Insurance Law and member of the Federation of Insurance & Corporate Counsel and International Association of Insurance Counsel.

He was founder and the first Chair of the Board of Directors of ARIAS (AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society), the leading insurance and reinsurance dispute resolution organization in the U.S. He was honored for his vision in creating the Society, assembling a stellar group of leaders in their respective fields to realize the dream of setting standards and procedures for arbitrators, streamlining the process of settlement and saving great litigation stresses and costs for company participants. He organized and led a group that included Ed Rondepierre, Ron Jacks, Dan Schmidt, Mark Hurwitz, Charles Foss, Charles Havens, Susan Mack, Robert Mangino, Charles Niles and for some years after, the finest legal practitioners in the field. A life long friend, he named this writer as group's first executive director and worked closely to grow the group to 300 members worldwide in its first two years. As a member of the Board of AIDA, the worldwide insurance law group, he interfaced with leaders from 38 countries and spread the concept of arbitration well beyond US borders.

Thomas Richard Kennedy was born...

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