Former BIBA Property Committee Chairman, broker, and BIBA friend, David Meur, passed away recently. To anyone who knew David, he was a titan. In life he was a tall man and taller still in the respect his industry held for him.
David impressed on us his integrity and commitment to the insurance industry from which he never retired; his service spanning five decades. David was celebrated by his peers with the Francis Perkins Award in 2013, presented to members of the Association who give their time and energy to promote the causes of the insurance broking sector.
David was a gentleman and not a man to shy away from his principles. He sometimes gave us the courage to follow ours. David was a strong force at BIBA, lending weight to our arguments and helping us to promote member interests. He was an encyclopaedia of wordings, of policy intention and claims expertise because he had lived them first-hand.
David had many business interests and none so special perhaps as Citygate Insurance Services in London and Belfast or when he worked at Legal & General and Genavco. In everything, no detail or amount of time spent was too much, especially so for the clients he served. It’s BIBA folklore that David went through every one of the 176 questions of the Pitt Review consultation on flooding with us. We had put two hours aside, but it took five!
It’s amazing how many personal stories people can share when you mention David Meur. He talked about how much he enjoyed the TV series Endeavour, and you could picture David as Morse if he hadn’t been such a good broker. He enjoyed cruising on the Cunard Queens, but it never stopped him calling the office even when he was mid-Atlantic! We pulled his leg about his flag pole at home, but he never seemed to mind. We met David on the train, for breakfast, at Conference, in Westminster. He was very much at the centre of a vibrant broking life.
“We walk in some big footsteps to follow David, but today we can celebrate and remember one of the originals in our industry.”