This month in New York Life history—September.

At New York Life

2021
Sept. 29: The Brave of Heart Fund and Arthouse NYC present the Hero Art Project, an exhibit of portraits honoring healthcare workers who have died while fighting Covid-19.

2016
Sept. 24: The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in Washington, D.C. New York Life was one of the museum’s founding donors with a donation of $1 million.

2013
Sept. 24: New York Life announced it had reached an agreement to acquire Dexia Asset Management, a firm with offices in Europe and Australia that managed nearly $100 billion in assets. Soon after the sale was completed in February 2014, Dexia changed its name to Candriam Investors Group. Today, Candriam is a leading global asset manager and has been a leader in sustainable and responsible investing for over 20 years.

2005
Sept. 1: New York Life announced the company's foundation would donate $1 million to the American Red Cross to support those affected by Hurricane Katrina. The company also matched donations from employees, agents, and retirees.   

2001
Sept. 11: Terrorist attacks on the United States prompted the largest disaster response in New York Life’s history. Immediately after the attacks, the company announced its commitment to pay all claims swiftly and compassionately, waiving the usual requirement for proof of death for the claims.

2000
Sept. 27: New York Life’s website, newyorklife.com, launched an online customer service center. It was one of the first major insurance companies to offer services over the internet.

1945
Sept. 2: World War II came to an end with the formal surrender of Japan (Germany had surrendered May 8). The war brought several changes to New York Life’s operations. The rise in marriage, birth, and home ownership rates brought a surge to the life insurance business as Americans sought to ensure the security of their new families. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, New York Life regularly set records for insurance sales. Returning veterans and the ensuing marriage/childrearing boom also created an acute housing shortage in the United States. New York Life moved to help satisfy this demand by increasing its investments in residential rental properties, home mortgage loans, and public utilities.

1901
Sept. 14: The 25^th President of the United States, William McKinley, was a New York Life policy owner. Tragically, President McKinley died of gunshot wounds he sustained from an assassin on Sept. 6. Upon McKinley’s death, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt became president. Roosevelt signed a New York Life policy of his own two months later on November 16.

1900
Sept. 8: Women’s rights icon Susan B. Anthony pledged her New York Life policy to a fundraising drive to get women admitted to the University of Rochester. The drive was on its last day and short of the goal the university had set as a precondition of admitting women. Anthony’s pledge put the goal over the top, and the University of Rochester became coeducational.

Around the world

2001
Sept. 11: The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history occurred as four large passenger jets were hijacked then crashed, killing nearly 3,000 persons.

1957
Sept. 24: President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the National Guard to enforce racial integration of schools in Little Rock, Ark.

1923
Sept. 2: The first elections were held in the Irish Free State after achieving independence from Britain.

1838
Sept. 3: Anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass began his escape from slavery by boarding a train in Baltimore dressed as a sailor. He rode to Wilmington, Del., where he caught a steamboat to the free city of Philadelphia, then took a train to New York City where he came under the protection of the Underground Railroad network.

1789
Sept. 2: The third Presidential cabinet department, the U.S. Treasury, was established by Congress.

Top photo: Fresh Meadows, a self-contained housing complex in the borough of Queens in New York City, was built in 1946 by a division of New York Life's then-Real Estate and Mortgage Loan Department as demand for housing soared in post-war America.

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