Thursday, October 09, 2008
In memory of John C. Angle, first President of 14th St.-Union Square BID
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
John C Angle, FSA, passed away at 85 in Lincoln, NE, on September 23. He was the first President of the 14th Street-Union Square Business Improvement District. Although a born New Yorker, he was a third-generation Nebraskan, a graduate of Lincoln's public schools and of the University of Chicago. Passing the Society of Actuaries Fellowship exams, he joined the Woodmen of America, a life insurer in Lincoln, where he moved up to be the Chief Actuarty and head of life insurance operations.
Returning to New York City some 20 years later, he came to Guardian Life Insurance Company of America on Union Square in 1973, as a senior vice president and chief actuary, progressing up to executive vice president by 1977. In May 1980 he was elected president of the company and became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer in 1985.
Always very active in Union Square and its surroundings, he became the first President of the 14th Street-Union Square BID (Business Improvement District), the first such organization in NYC and the prototype for 60 more. Union Square and 14th Street were disastrously run down in those days, with drug dealers and prostitution in the park and in small hotels of neighboring streets, and the BID, organized to improve sanitation and security, with its own guards and trash collectors, was very material in the rebirth of the area.
John C. Angle retired from Guardian Life in 1989, but remained a director until the end of 1998. During his tenure Guardian Life expanded to three regional home offices, and in the late 1990s, for lack of local expansion space, the Union Square headquarters had to move to Hanover Square downtown.
As told by the BID’s former executive director, Robert Walsh, now NYC’s Commissioner of Small Business Services Department, John Angle was one of the three men directly responsible for the rebirth of Union Square as a vital residential, commercial and restaurant area and a major tourist destination. After moving into a W. 11th Street residence in the 1970s, he joined the Fifth Avenue Association, and, with Charles Luce, chair of Con Ed and John Everett, president of The New School, started the cleanup initiative of the Union Square area, by first organizing Sweet 14, a merchant-supported sanitation and security organization, which evolved into the 14th Street-Union Square Local Development Corporation, later adding the BID. The local initiatives soon spread throughout the city, aiding the city government in raising New York’s quality of life, recalls ex-Mayor Ed Koch, a strong supporter of the BIDs.
Dr. Jonathan Fenton, ex-President of New School and now President of the MacArthur "Genius" Fund, adds that John Angle was instrumental in creating the BID and LDC. He had a vision for a vibrant neighborhood that respected its great tradition and embraced a vibrant future. He helped restore Union Square as a meeting place for people of all backgrounds, a safe space for play, reading and reflection, discussion and debate. He gave energy to the commercial renaissance of 14th street while nurturing long standing businesses that drew people from all over the City.,His ability to bring people together forged two organizations that represent the best of private initiative and public purpose.
Sweet 14 and its successor neighborhood revival activities led to the Greenmarket, Zeckendorf Towers and Mays Department Store constructions and the arrival of quality grocery and retail facilities that make Union Square a major visitor destination. The organization has since evolved into the Union Square Partnership.
John Angle was also prominent in industry affairs, as the chairman of the Life Office Management Association, a director of the Health Insurance Association of America, the American Council of Life Insurance, the Life Insurance Council of New York and the Society of Actuaries.
A prolific author of articles for professional journals, after retirement John Angle published Probe, an industry newsletter. He was also responsible for establishing Guardian's archives, leading to a scholarly textbook, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, 1860 to 1920: A History of a German-American Enterprise, by Anita Rapone.
Following his retirement from Guardian in 1988, John and Catherine Angle returned to their family home, Lincoln, Nebraska where they quickly resumed their active role in community affairs. In 1995 John chaired a task force appointed by the president of the University of Nebraska. The report of the task force later came to be known as the Angle Report. He was also president of the Nebraska Art Association and of the Friends of the Libraries at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Both John and Catherine Angle served on the Council of Visitors of the School of Arts and Sciences, and were trustees of the Nebraska Trails Foundation, members of the Friends of Chamber Music, Friends of the Opera and of the Meadow Lark Society,and founders of the College of Fine and Performing Arts. The Angles have also endowed two professorships at the University of Nebraska.
With all this, the Angles retained a major interest in New York City activities, returning to stay every year. They stimulated a music scholarship in the Nebraska University for New York students, and, conversely, were active in pushing the career of Joba Chamberlain, a Native American and a UN baseball star, towards the pitching staff of New York Yankees.
John C Angle, FSA, passed away at 85 in Lincoln, NE, on September 23. He was the first President of the 14th Street-Union Square Business Improvement District. Although a born New Yorker, he was a third-generation Nebraskan, a graduate of Lincoln's public schools and of the University of Chicago. Passing the Society of Actuaries Fellowship exams, he joined the Woodmen of America, a life insurer in Lincoln, where he moved up to be the Chief Actuarty and head of life insurance operations.
Returning to New York City some 20 years later, he came to Guardian Life Insurance Company of America on Union Square in 1973, as a senior vice president and chief actuary, progressing up to executive vice president by 1977. In May 1980 he was elected president of the company and became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer in 1985.
Always very active in Union Square and its surroundings, he became the first President of the 14th Street-Union Square BID (Business Improvement District), the first such organization in NYC and the prototype for 60 more. Union Square and 14th Street were disastrously run down in those days, with drug dealers and prostitution in the park and in small hotels of neighboring streets, and the BID, organized to improve sanitation and security, with its own guards and trash collectors, was very material in the rebirth of the area.
John C. Angle retired from Guardian Life in 1989, but remained a director until the end of 1998. During his tenure Guardian Life expanded to three regional home offices, and in the late 1990s, for lack of local expansion space, the Union Square headquarters had to move to Hanover Square downtown.
As told by the BID’s former executive director, Robert Walsh, now NYC’s Commissioner of Small Business Services Department, John Angle was one of the three men directly responsible for the rebirth of Union Square as a vital residential, commercial and restaurant area and a major tourist destination. After moving into a W. 11th Street residence in the 1970s, he joined the Fifth Avenue Association, and, with Charles Luce, chair of Con Ed and John Everett, president of The New School, started the cleanup initiative of the Union Square area, by first organizing Sweet 14, a merchant-supported sanitation and security organization, which evolved into the 14th Street-Union Square Local Development Corporation, later adding the BID. The local initiatives soon spread throughout the city, aiding the city government in raising New York’s quality of life, recalls ex-Mayor Ed Koch, a strong supporter of the BIDs.
Dr. Jonathan Fenton, ex-President of New School and now President of the MacArthur "Genius" Fund, adds that John Angle was instrumental in creating the BID and LDC. He had a vision for a vibrant neighborhood that respected its great tradition and embraced a vibrant future. He helped restore Union Square as a meeting place for people of all backgrounds, a safe space for play, reading and reflection, discussion and debate. He gave energy to the commercial renaissance of 14th street while nurturing long standing businesses that drew people from all over the City.,His ability to bring people together forged two organizations that represent the best of private initiative and public purpose.
Sweet 14 and its successor neighborhood revival activities led to the Greenmarket, Zeckendorf Towers and Mays Department Store constructions and the arrival of quality grocery and retail facilities that make Union Square a major visitor destination. The organization has since evolved into the Union Square Partnership.
John Angle was also prominent in industry affairs, as the chairman of the Life Office Management Association, a director of the Health Insurance Association of America, the American Council of Life Insurance, the Life Insurance Council of New York and the Society of Actuaries.
A prolific author of articles for professional journals, after retirement John Angle published Probe, an industry newsletter. He was also responsible for establishing Guardian's archives, leading to a scholarly textbook, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, 1860 to 1920: A History of a German-American Enterprise, by Anita Rapone.
Following his retirement from Guardian in 1988, John and Catherine Angle returned to their family home, Lincoln, Nebraska where they quickly resumed their active role in community affairs. In 1995 John chaired a task force appointed by the president of the University of Nebraska. The report of the task force later came to be known as the Angle Report. He was also president of the Nebraska Art Association and of the Friends of the Libraries at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Both John and Catherine Angle served on the Council of Visitors of the School of Arts and Sciences, and were trustees of the Nebraska Trails Foundation, members of the Friends of Chamber Music, Friends of the Opera and of the Meadow Lark Society,and founders of the College of Fine and Performing Arts. The Angles have also endowed two professorships at the University of Nebraska.
With all this, the Angles retained a major interest in New York City activities, returning to stay every year. They stimulated a music scholarship in the Nebraska University for New York students, and, conversely, were active in pushing the career of Joba Chamberlain, a Native American and a UN baseball star, towards the pitching staff of New York Yankees.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 3:23 AM 
