American Slain in Beijing Was Board Chairman of Illinois Insurance Company

An American stabbed to death in China in an attack that also critically injured his wife had ties to the Metro East, Ill.

Sixty-two-year-old Todd Bachman was the board chairman at Edwardsville-based Hortica. That company provides insurance and risk management to the floral and horticultural industry.

Bachman was chairman and CEO of Minneapolis-based Bachman’s Inc. floral gift and garden centers. He joined Hortica’s board in 1996 and was elected chairman of the board in February 2008. He was frequently in Edwardsville and was planning to attend the next regularly scheduled board meeting.

Bachman, his wife and daughter were touring an ancient monument in Beijing on Aug. 9 when he and his wife were stabbed by a Chinese man who then killed himself. Bachman was the father of former Olympian Elisabeth Bachman.

Hortica senior vice president Brent Bates says Bachman treated everyone as family.

Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits, is a 120-year-old mutual insurance company.