Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has paid tribute to former Supervisor of Insurance and longtime Managing Director and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL), Wismar Greaves, who passed away recently.
Below is the full statement from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley:
Today, I join members of my Government in paying tribute to a son of the soil who has given many years of dedicated service to his country. I speak of Mr. Wismar Greaves, who would just as easily be recognised by the title Mr. St. Lucy or Mr. Insurance — and his passing leaves a void in both worlds.
Wismar, a former Supervisor of Insurance and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited for just short of two decades, was a literal living encyclopedia of insurance laws, customs, and practices. When he spoke, one would have been foolhardy not to listen.
In fact, it was under his leadership that the ICBL grew to become one of the major players, if not the major player, in the local insurance market. He retired from that corporation in 2011, leaving a legacy that any insurance executive in Barbados would have envied.
Wismar will also be remembered for the valiant ten-year legal battle that he led as a Barbadian policyholder of Manulife, the Canadian insurance behemoth, that sold its local operations under terms that significantly disadvantaged Bajans who were insured with the entity.
Though Wismar and others who joined the class-action suit did not triumph in court, their battle brought a level of knowledge and awareness to local consumers that would make any attempt at a similar approach to insurance divestment today much harder to escape the eyes of Barbadians.
But Wismar, as much as his life was consumed by matters of insurance, was a “north man” at heart. His St. Lucy roots were evident in every facet of his life — his “accent”, his simple, rustic but strikingly robust approach to discussion, and his pit bull-like ferocity when it came to defending or representing the people, customs and issues of our northernmost parish.
His voice had been silenced for some time by illness, but neither that nor the death we mourn today can dampen the honour and respect we will forever owe to Wismar Greaves.
To his family, I extend my deepest condolence.
May his soul rest in peace and rise in glory.
