It’s astonishing how swiftly 30 years can pass, seemingly in the blink of an eye. I have intimate knowledge of the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (FAPIA) history because I was approached to assist in its formation. Ray Altieri, Jr. informed me that veteran adjusters desired the creation of a Florida Association and wondered if I could take the lead in establishing the organization. The history of FAPIA is documented on their official website:

In December of 1992, NAPIA moved its Mid-Year Convention to Miami in an effort to accommodate its members who were working in South Florida. The DOI’s Agency Director had come to the meeting as a guest speaker. He warned the entire organization of impending doom for public adjusting in Florida once the next Legislative session opened in a few short months. After this gentleman spoke, Ray Altieri’s partner (at the time) and long time public adjuster, Jerry Levin, of Utica, New York, came to him while he was talking with attorney, William “Chip” Merlin and suggested that we were going to need a state public adjusters association to fight this off.  Immediately, they went to work. We contacted all of Florida’s PAs and attorney Doug Grose. We set a meeting for all Florida Public Adjusters in Orlando.

The inaugural meeting took place in February 1993 at the Marriott World Center in Orlando. At dinner the night before the meeting, Chip Merlin and Doug Grose, as our legal advisors, proposed a slate of Officers, which was to be voted on the next day by the public adjusters who were in attendance. Raymond A. Altieri, Jr. of Tampa was nominated as the organization’s first President, Steven Lesser of Miami Beach as President–Elect, Stephen Sarasohn of Boca Raton as Vice President, Chuck Howarth of Tampa as Treasurer, and Allan Brodsky of Hollywood as Secretary. The Directors were James Toukatly of Orlando, Craig Tanner of Clearwater, Ron Livingstone of Orlando, and Ira Sarasohn of Boca Raton.

The formation of the organization pre-dated the internet and personal cell phones. The entire formation process would seem extraordinarily slow by today’s standards when anybody can start a webpage and a cause in a few hours. 

I will be sharing facts and thoughts about the history of FAPIA over the next several weeks leading up to the convention, which starts on Friday, October 20. For public adjusters, this is a wonderful event to attend. I have been working on a speech you will not want to miss, which will be given on Saturday morning, October 21. 

Hope to see you there. Here is a link for the registration. 

Thought For The Day 

How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?

—Dr. Seuss