navigation search golden state mutual life industry insurance successor ia american life founded los angeles california on july 23 1925 founder william nickerson jr. headquarters 1999 west adams boulevard los angeles california 90018 los angeles california united states website www.gsmlife.com golden state mutual life insurance company the largest black owned insurance company in the western united states was founded by william nickerson jr. with the assistance of norman oliver houston and george allen beavers jr. contents 1 founding 2 early years 3 continued growth and expansion 4 economic decline 5 references 6 external links founding edit in the mid 1920s when william nickerson jr. an insurance salesman and publisher from texas arrived in los angeles he was alarmed to discover that most of the 16 000 blacks living in the city were unable to obtain life insurance . unable to afford an attorney nickerson studied law to determine the state s requirements to form a corporation to accommodate this need . he partnered with fellow insurance salesman norman o. houston and businessman george a. beavers jr. to secure 500 pre paid life insurance applications as well as the 15 000 deposit required by california . houston raised the 15 000 and beavers found 500 blacks that would pay premiums for a company that was yet to be established . 1 2 on july 23 1925 they opened as the golden state guarantee fund insurance company in a one room office at 1435 central avenue los angeles with few amenities and 17 800 in capital . within three months the company had outgrown its office and moved to a storeroom at 3512 central avenue . by the end of its first year the company had established an office in oakland california had sold more than 260 000 in policies and had 6 000 in reserves and a surplus of over 16 000 . within three years golden state insurance had over 100 employees including sixty agents as well as branches in pasadena bakersfield san diego and fresno . 1 early years edit in 1928 using all african american design and labor they built the two story golden state mutual life insurance building at 4261 central avenue where the firm occupied the top floor while the main floor was rented to merchants . the company remained profitable throughout the great depression in the 1930s . the company began paying out dividends beginning in 1930 and continues to do so uninterrupted to this day . the name was changed to golden state mutual life insurance company in 1931 and by the end of the 1930s assets had grown to 437 000 with 6 million in policies . in 1938 they set up operations in illinois and in 1944 they opened a branch in texas . by the end of world war ii assets stood at 2 million surplus funds at 750 000 and they had nearly 24 million in policies . continued growth and expansion edit when the company s founder william nickerson jr. died in 1945 houston became president and beavers was elevated to board chairman . under the new leadership the company continued its expansion . eventually golden state mutual had offices in 14 states with over 4 billion in policies . in 1949 golden state mutual opened its new headquarters at 1999 west adams boulevard in los angeles which was designed by paul williams . as a major institution within the black community representatives of golden state mutual were active in the civil rights movement . they also amassed an extensive collection of art by african american artists which included works by richmond barth hale woodruff charles alston varnette honeywood charles white betye saar and david hammons . works were displayed in the corridors and offices of the company s building on adams boulevard los angeles . the collection was founded in 1965 based on an idea proposed by william e. pajaud who ran the company s public relations department and who was made curator of the new collection . 3 over twenty two years the company amassed over 200 works of art . however in the wake of integration golden state mutual as well as other black owned businesses began to lose market share and influence . in 1962 when beavers took on the added role as president of the national insurance association it was apparent that something needed to be done to insure the continued viability of black owned businesses . 4 in 1970 houston s sons norman b. houston and ivan j. houston took over active management of golden state mutual . 5 while the company continued to succeed rough financial waters lay ahead . economic decline edit by the 1980s golden state mutual was struggling to maintain profitability . the golden state mutual african american art collection was sold at auction on 4 october 2007 and dispersed . 6 on september 20 2009 california insurance commissioner steve poizner placed golden state mutual into conservation after its surplus funds dropped below required minimum levels . this occurred after six consecutive years of net operating losses . as the result the state ordered that golden state mutual s policies be taken over by ia american life insurance company . golden state mutual was also forced to sell its art collection which was valued in the millions of dollars to help pay off mounting debts . the selection of ia american life came as a result of a national bidding process involving more than 40 active life insurers . ia american life insurance company rated a by noted insurance rating firm am best was the only bidder that satisfied all key components of the selection criteria . this included the ability to assume 100 % of the golden state mutual policies so that policyholders will be fully protected under the transaction while remaining creditors and investors have a much greater potential to be repaid . references edit a b stuart m. s. 1969 1940 . an economic detour a history of insurance in the lives of american negroes . college park maryland mcgrath publishing company . pp. 263 267 . folkart burt a. 1989 10 14 . george beavers jr. ; insurance firm founder . los angeles times . retrieved 2010 10 12 . peabody rebecca et al. eds 2011 . pacific standard time los angeles art 1945 1980 . los angeles getty . p. 175 . johnson john h. ed . october 1962 . why negroes buy life insurance alert insurance association launches sales research program . ebony . chicago illinois johnson publishing company inc. 17 12 142 144 146 . johnson john h. ed . march 26 1970 . son takes retiring dad s golden state insurance post . jet . chicago illinois johnson publishing company inc. 37 26 52 . swann auctioneers . the golden state mutual life african american art collection . retrieved 21 june 2014 . golden state mutual life insurance company . john n. ingham and lynne b. feldman . african american business leaders a biographical dictionary . westport greenwood press 1993 . ott chris . university of washington . external links edit online archive of california the william nickerson jr. project website dedicated to gsm s founder and his family save the golden state mutual life insurance company s collection of african american art retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title golden state mutual life insurance company & oldid 743512323 categories insurance companies of the united statescompanies based in los angelescompanies established in 1925hidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 00 29 . text is available under the creative commons 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