A Legacy Tall as a Mountain
Thirty years after we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Peter Lefkin has “retired” from the insurance industry. His good work will remain.
By the time I’d realized that climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, was going to be an awful slog, it was too late.
My closest friend in the Washington lobbying community, Peter Lefkin, had talked me into it more than a year earlier, in 1995. Peter’s a great adventurer and world traveler, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.
The further I get away from that flipping mountain, the more glamorous it all seems. But at the time all I knew was that I had willingly paid thousands of dollars to haul my oxygen-deprived body up to the nearly 20,000-foot peak while feeling like I had the world’s worst hangover. Peter, meanwhile, looked as if he was strolling to the fridge, skipping to the top without a care.
I will admit, though, that it is the most beautiful place that I have ever puked. And it was my biggest adventure with Peter.
Last month, Peter Lefkin retired after almost 50 years of advocacy in Washington, including running government affairs for Allianz here for nearly four decades. (“Retired” may be too strong a word, as Peter has already hung out a shingle on D.C.’s lobbyist row on K Street.) I think Peter is the best insurance lobbyist ever. Others may disagree, but all would concur that he is the most principled, thoughtful, and good-humored. And he’s had a fabulous career at the world’s largest insurer.
“Watching television shows and movies, you can get one picture of lobbying, and undoubtedly, some is borne by a semblance of reality,” Peter wrote in his final newsletter from Allianz. “However, to be enduring, integrity and truth are your calling card. Be prepared to tell your position and why it is good, but if they don’t know what the other side is saying, make sure they do, as they need to know this as well.”
Peter came to Washington as an intern and did a stint at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission before working for Rep. Matt Rinaldo of New Jersey, a liberal Republican back when that was a thing. He started at the Fireman’s Fund in 1988, just two years before Allianz bought the company.
In addition to his daily lobbying responsibilities, Peter represented Allianz at client and financial advisor events around the world over the last 15 years. These could be delicate events, he acknowledged. “[It] was always important to try to stay as neutral as possible, disarm tensions, and not be controversial,” Peter wrote. “No doubt, there were probably a few times when things got mildly testy which usually involved attendees with different views battling with each other. My job was to dial them down.”
He credits his executives, trade associations, and colleagues for his success, but Peter led the way on countless regulatory, legislative, and taxation matters, racking up incalculable contributions to our industry.
I think Peter is the best insurance lobbyist ever. Others may disagree, but all would concur that he is the most principled, thoughtful, and good-humored. And he’s had a fabulous career at the world’s largest insurer.
Peter was an integral part of a group that dealt with the resolution of claims arising from the Sept. 11 attacks. This was not just work for him—two friends died in the attacks. Allianz also had an office in the World Trade Center, and he noted the emotions that came with the tremendous tragedy coupled with relief that the Allianz staff was OK. “Everybody was able to walk out alive through the stairway before the building collapsed. It was a great relief on a truly horrible day.”
But perhaps his biggest mark was helping to navigate the issues of unclaimed and unpaid insurance policies brought on by the Holocaust. The complicated and sensitive negotiations took years. Peter shuttled between European companies, U.S. state insurance regulators, and international Jewish organizations. He helped develop a process under which hundreds of millions of dollars could be paid to policyholders and their heirs.
Modest as he is, Peter made no mention of what might be his greatest recognition in the final newsletter. I was in the audience at a packed black-tie gala at the Waldorf Astoria in New York in 2013, where he was honored by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. The organization seeks to fulfill the traditional Jewish commitment to hakarat hatov, the seeking out and recognition of goodness. I was seated next to Peter’s beaming mom Joan, who, I’m pleased to report, is in great shape today, well into her 90s.
Peter noted the many challenges that face the United States and the world—from inflation and the ever-deepening federal deficit to a fracturing society and loneliness— but he ended his newsletter with a message of hope.
“There are other issues as well, but still it is important to resist being pessimistic as there is still a lot of good,” he wrote. “Over its 250-year history, the United States has faced many traumas, but its people are resilient and things do rebound. Many developments within the country right now—though not necessarily at the federal level—show that people want change. At the state and local level, there are positive signs as communities engage in activities and show solidarity for those in need.”
