History

New York Life | April 1, 2025

2022

April 18: Craig DeSanto becomes New York Life's Chief Executive Officer.

2021

April 27: New York Life launches $1 billion impact investment initiative to address racial wealth gap by investing in underserved and undercapitalized communities over next three years.

2020

April 21: New York Life and Cigna launch the Brave of Heart Fund, together raising more than $100 million to provide financial and emotional support for families of frontline healthcare workers and volunteers.

2015

April 15: Index IQ became a New York Life brand as part of an acquisition that brought their expertise in exchange-traded funds to the company. Index IQ celebrated by ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on May 19.

2008

April 12: The New York Life Foundation began accepting grant applications for its new Community Impact Grants Programs, which allowed field agents and field employees to direct the New York Life Foundation grants to organizations in their communities. Grant amounts ranged from $5,000 to $25,000.

1997

April 1: Seymour “Sy” Sternberg became chairman and CEO of New York Life. He retained the title of president, which he had held since 1995. Renowned for his business acumen, Sternberg would remain CEO until June 30, 2008.

1995

April 25: The Fortune 500 list included mutual insurers for the first time — New York Life placed 84th.

1994

April 22: Policy owner and former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon passed away. He had been a New York Life policy owner for more than 60 years.

1993

April 28: New York Life participated in the first annual “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day” (then called “Take Our Daughters to Work Day”). The company has participated every year since.

1985

April 12: New York Life illuminated the golden pinnacle of the Home Office Building for the first time in celebration of its 140^th anniversary.

1947

April 15: Future New York Life policy owner Jackie Robinson desegregated Major League Baseball when he started with the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1962, Robinson would become the first African American inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

1945 

April 12: New York Life commemorated its 100^th birthday by writing more than $36 million worth of insurance in one day, its largest total to that point. The death of sitting U.S. President and New York Life policy owner Franklin Roosevelt that afternoon, however, would cause the company to change its plans for a Centennial Day celebration.

1917 

April 6: The United States declared war on Germany, officially entering World War I. New York Life would be heavily involved in the war effort. The company purchased nearly $90 million in low-yield war bonds and encouraged customers to make similar investments on an individual level. Many New York Life employees would also serve: 192 men from the Home Office, 170 field employees and 340 agents. So many people affiliated with the Home Office served in the war that in 1919 the company was awarded its own chapter in the newly formed American Legion: NYLIC Post 503.

1916

April 4: One year before the U.S. entered World War I, New York Life’s board of directors voted to allow employees to take leaves of absence for voluntary pre-enlistment military training. The training programs had been organized by private citizens to keep America prepared in the event the country entered the war.

1906

April 18: The Great San Francisco Earthquake hit. The quake and the ensuing fire would kill around 3,000 people and destroy most of the city. Three managers from New York Life’s branch office in the city buried the company’s policies in Golden Gate Park to protect them from the fire. After the quake — while most of the city’s banks and insurance companies remained closed — New York Life set up a temporary office in the burned-over area through which they could make cash policy loans to provide clients a crucial lifeline during the recovery period.

1881

April 23: U.S. President James Garfield became a New York Life policy owner soon after taking the oath of office. Garfield would be shot less than two months later on July 2 and would die from his wounds on September 19. Garfield’s successor, Chester A. Arthur, was also a New York Life policy owner.

1863

April 4: Future American President Chester A. Arthur became a New York Life policy owner, the first of several U.S. Presidents to hold New York Life policies.

1849 

April 5: New York Life adopted its modern name. The company had begun operations in 1845 as “Nautilus Insurance,” originally largely as a fire and marine insurance company. The board of trustees (predecessor to the modern board of directors) voted to change the company’s name to New York Life Insurance Company on this date to reflect the company’s shift to a focus on life insurance.

1845 

April 12: New York Life was born when the board of trustees for Nautilus Insurance Company — later renamed New York Life — met for the first time to elect the company’s executive leadership, including first president James DePeyster Ogden. This date is generally regarded as the beginning of New York Life.