IIAT honors Fitzhugh for 60 years of state conference attendance
Third generation Waco agent going strong at 89
Third-generation and longtime Waco independent insurance agent Champe Fitzhugh Jr., was honored in mid-June by his insurance profession’s state association, the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT), for attending his 60th annual state Conference and Trade Show.
The honor marks an attendance milestone that won’t soon be duplicated. Recognition included a day in his honor, a framed resolution and free registration to all future IIAT events. Fitzhugh was honored during the June 16 business meeting. A framed copy of the resolution will be displayed in the foyer of the IIAT office in Austin.
Champe Fitzhugh, well-known to IIAT members for his attendance badge which bears a long string of designation ribbons, attended his first meeting in 1946, barely a year after joining his father’s agency in Waco. But the first Fitzhugh began his insurance career in Waco more than 60 years earlier.
Since 1884, the three generations of Fitzhughs–E.E., T. Champe Sr., and Champe Jr.–have figured strongly in the independent insurance industry, not only in Waco, but also throughout Texas.
“Champe and the Fitzhugh family have a long and distinguished history in our organization and our industry,” said David VanDelinder, IIAT executive director, during a formal presentation before several hundred insurance professionals during the annual conference in Houston.
VanDelinder noted that Champe Jr. has served on the IIAT board of directors and on various committees during his career. He has also held leadership positions including that of president in his local association. Both Champe Jr. and his father, T. Champe Sr., have won the Drex Foreman Award, IIAT’s highest honor. T. Champe Sr., also served as president of IIAT in 1948.
It was Champe’s grandfather, E.E. Fitzhugh, and 40 other insurance men from 18 Texas cities who, meeting in 1898 in the Waco City Hall, organized what has grown into one of the largest state associations of independent insurance agency professionals in the nation. Today independent insurance agents write 80 percent of the business insurance in Texas and a steadily increasing percentage of personal insurance, now at about 30 percent.
Following a lifetime of service as an independent insurance agent, Champe Jr. sold the 114-year old, Waco-based Fitzhugh & Co. in 2000. Then barely three years later, Champe Jr. started a new insurance company, Fitzhugh Insurance & Bonds. He was 86 at the time.
Champe Jr. said he has had a lot of fun through the years. “What good is it if you can’t have fun,” he said. “I love this business.”
According to Jamie Irvin, executive vice president of Fitzhugh Insurance & Bonds, Champe Jr. continues to put in a full day, usually working from 7:30 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. “Tuesdays during the school year, he is in the office a little less. That’s when he tutors elementary students in reading at Bells Hill School,” Irvin said. Champe Jr. also continues to solicit contributions each year to help buy books for A Storybook Christmas, a project of the Waco Tribune-Herald to help put new books in the hands of school children in Waco.
“Champe Jr.’s secretary, Jessie Green, sends out all the solicitations, handles the details and the thank-you letters at the end of each campaign,” Irvin said. Jessie Green’s grandson is country recording artist, Pat Green, Irvin added.
After graduating from Texas A&M (E.E. graduated from A&M in 1880, T. Champe Sr. from the University of Texas, Austin), Champe taught school at the University of Missouri before going to work for Trinity Insurance Company. He served five years in the Army during WWII before joining his father’s agency. Champe Jr. is a retired Lt. Colonel.