Former AIG Bermuda chief Joe Johnson dies

Joseph (Joe) Johnson (pictured), the longtime head of AIG’s re/insurance operations in Bermuda, has died. He was 87.  

Johnson, who was also an independent senator and served as part of the negotiating team for Bermuda’s landmark tax treaty with the US, died last month in Naples, Florida. 

He was president of American International Ltd in Bermuda and chairman of the Bank of Bermuda (now HSBC Bank of Bermuda and a president of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce and its international companies division (now the Association of Bermuda International Companies). 

The Royal Gazette reported that  Johnson remained an employee until his death of Starr International, the company steered by former AIG chair and CEO Maurice Greenberg after he left the insurance giant.  

Steve Blakey, the chairman of global insurance at Starr, told The Royal Gazette that Mr Johnson was his first boss when he came to Bermuda in the 1980s.

“Joe was professional, a very considered and thoughtful man with a passion for golf and a great sense of humour,” Mr Blakey said. “Joe was a great guy to be around — to have dinner with, play golf with, do business with. He had it all.

“He was a good leader, someone you felt confident sharing a problem with, that he would have the way forward.

“He never panicked. That’s why he had so many roles.”

The company called him “an insurance pioneer in Bermuda, helping to establish the country as a global commercial centre”.

Mr Johnson served as president and director of Starr International Company Inc, and more recently was director of the Bermudian-based Starr Insurance & Reinsurance Ltd.

Sir John Swan, a former premier who steered the signature 1985 tax treaty through with the Reagan Administration, recalled Mr Johnson’s role in the painstaking negotiations with Washington that set the stage for the island’s subsequent economic prosperity.

“Bermuda was far better off as a result of him being involved,” Sir John said. “Joe did a very good job representing Bermuda.

“Joe was running American International when I was premier and very much involved in discussions on the tax treaty from the very beginning.”

He added: “There were naysayers and people having doubts that it would happen, but common sense prevailed.

“Once we agreed on a course of action, everybody did their thing. That treaty was the type of thing that you never dream would produce such significant results.”

Johnson joined AIG when he was 17 years old and remained at the company until 2005, becoming becoming president of American International Company in 1976, and president and chief executive in 1978, a position he held for 26 years.

He became chairman at the beginning of 2005, holding the senior AIG position until the year’s end, when he retired.

Mr Johnson was a past chairman and former director at AIG-owned catastrophe reinsurer IPC Holdings and a past chairman and former director of IPCRe Limited.

In 2005, Mr Johnson was awarded the Bermuda Insurance Institute’s 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mr Johnson was director and chairman of the Bank of Bermuda Foundation, chairman of the Bank of Bermuda Foundation Endowment, and he served as an officer and director of many international companies incorporated in Bermuda.

He was widowed by his wife of 44 years, Caroll. He and his wife, Gigi, were in their eighteenth year of marriage, dividing their time between Bermuda and Florida.

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