Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company

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The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company was a life insurance company that was chartered in 1845 and based in Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The company was headed by Frederick Frelinghuysen (1848-1924). The company was known as the "Tiffany" of insurance companies, a reference to its reputation as the life insurance company to the upper classes.

Mutual Benefit Life was taken into receivership for rehabilitation by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance on July 16, 1991, after losses in an overheated real estate market led to a run by policyholders, who ultimately lost the purported "cash value" that had been said to have accrued in their policies. At the time, the collapse was the largest ever of an American insurer. AMEV acquired the group life, accident and health insurance Mutual Benefit in 1991. SunAmerica acquired the remaining divisions in 1998. Effective June 14, 2001, Mutual Benefit was liquidated and dissolved.

Video Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company

Landmark buildings

The company's original headquarters building at 300 Broadway in Newark is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The building was sold to the Archdiocese of Newark and served as home to Essex Catholic High School until 1979. The building was again sold, and today serves as a nursing home.

The company moved to larger headquarters at 520 Broad Street in 1957, a modern structure that was built in the International Style as part of the New Newark movement and centered to the north of traditional downtown at Washington Park, currently owned by IDT Corporation. As of December 2012 there were plans to convert the building to residential and retail space marketed to the city's student population'

The Mutual Benefit Life Building in Philadelphia is another structure associated with the firm.

Maps Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, New Jersey
• List of tallest buildings in Newark
• History of Newark, New Jersey

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References

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Further reading

• Derdak, Thomas (editor) (1991). International Directory of Company Histories (Vol. 3). St. James Press. ASIN B000MBNTF0. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
• Stone, Mildred F. (1957). Since 1845: A History of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. Rutgers University Press. p. 237. ASIN B0007DVJKA. 
• Answers.com Mutual Benefit Life
• Article on Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company at fundinguniverse.com

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External links

• Image of share certificate

Source of article : Wikipedia