Jim Long-A Great Insurance Commissioner

 

My long time friend and mentor, former North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Jim Long, passed away this week.  Jim was a young 68, and had a massive stroke early last week.  I had talked to him just before Christmas, and we had planned a long visit in the North Carolina Mountains where his mother was living.  I have known and worked with Jim for almost 20 years, and he was the guy I would call when there was an insurance problem in Louisiana I was trying to solve.

I met Jim at the Fairmount Hotel in New Orleans some six months before I became Louisiana Insurance Commissioner.  Jim loved New Orleans and never missed a good reason to come down to the Crescent City.  He knew every good restaurant, and took me to some I didn’t even k now about.  Jim was a strong consumer advocate and really looked out for the average policyholder in his state.  He in stilled a lesson in me to be a fair but tough regulator.  I will be at Jim’s funeral in Raleigh, joining so many friends Jim has touched.  He was a great public servant, and we will sure miss him.