Iowa Insurance Educator Vaughan Dies at 69

Emmett J. Vaughan, a renowned professor of insurance at the University of Iowa’s Henry B. Tippie College of Business, has passed away at the age of 69. Funeral services will be held on Sat., Oct. 30, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Iowa City. Burial will be in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

Vaughan began his career at University of Iowa in 1963, as an assistant professor. He was named an associate professor in 1965 and a full professor in 1972. Most recently, he served as a professor of Finance and was instrumental in the establishment of the Tippie College’s Institute of Risk Management and Insurance.

For many years, Vaughan directed the college’s efforts in insurance education, helping the university earn a distinguished reputation in the field of insurance education in the 1970s and 1980s. He mentored and trained many of the industry’s top leaders and wrote a defining text, “Fundamentals of Risk and Insurance,” now in its ninth edition. Today, insurance executives throughout the state and nation credit Vaughan for influencing their careers.

The Tippie College established the Institute of Risk Management and Insurance in 2003 to provide a comprehensive program of innovative education, research and leadership in the field of risk management and insurance to educate insurance professionals and to support the insurance industry in Iowa. The institute’s curriculum has been approved, and additional classes will be offered in the spring 2005 semester.

In September, The University of Iowa Foundation announced recent gifts totaling $290,000 in support of the Institute. The Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa (IIAI) and three of its member agencies will be members of a donor recognition club, the Emmett J. Vaughan Associates, which was named in his honor. To date, nearly $1.9 million has been raised to establish the Institute, including a $1.5 million gift from Allied Insurance, which dedicated a new training center in 2003 and named it the Emmett J. Vaughan Training Center.

Vaughan’s service to The University of Iowa included serving as associate dean for external programs for the then College of Business Administration from 1979 to 1985 and as interim dean of the College from October 1981 through July 1983. After serving as interim dean of the division of Continuing Education, he was named dean of the division in 1986, and he served in that role until 2001.

For twenty years, Vaughan was the editor of the Agency Management Manual, a popular valuable reference on the legal, financial and strategic issues related to the operation of an insurance agency. He served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Labor on health insurance issues and testified before committees of the Federal Reserve System, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Following the Persian Gulf War in 1992, Professor Vaughan assisted Adjustors International, the company hired by Kuwait, to coordinate the nearly 3 million claims for U.N.-mandated reparations due its citizens from Iraq.

Vaughan was inducted as a charter member of the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame in 1997. His daughter, Dr. Therese Vaughan, serves today as the commissioner of insurance for the State of Iowa.

Vaughan was born December 1, 1934 in Omaha, Neb. He is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Connie, and their children Dr. Therese Vaughan, Joan Vaughan Donovan, Dr. Mary Vaughan Sarrazin, Dr. Timothy Vaughan, Tom Vaughan, and Michael Vaughan. Another son, Emmett Vaughan, Jr. died earlier.

Topics Education Training Development Iowa Universities