In Remembrance is an occasional column featuring short obituaries of CAS members who have recently died. Longer versions of these obituaries are posted on the CAS website at bit.ly/PCASobits.
Groundbreaker
Frank Harwayne (FCAS 1950)
1920-2016
In 2014 Frank Harwayne was the second oldest CAS member, but advanced years and infirmity could not keep him from celebrating. He attended the CAS Centennial Gala in New York City as a special guest and wrote for the CAS Centennial history book. Harwayne decided to be an actuary while serving in the U.S. Signal Corps during World War II. He had been quite impressed by the CAS membership list that his wife, Ruth, sent him while he was in the Philippines. He earned his ACAS in 1949 and was hired by the National Bureau of Casualty and Surety Underwriters. He next worked for the New York State Insurance Department as chief actuary, setting rates for auto insurance, a booming product during the 1950s. His work differentiating rates between urban and rural owners was groundbreaking, with many states basing their insurance policies on it. At NCCI he created its first-ever research division. He also taught at the City College of New York, Pace College and the College of Insurance. He and Ruth Harwayne were married for 71 years. She died in September 2015 and he the following August. He is survived by four children, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Paving the Way for Others
Erica Purwati Partosoedarso (ACAS 1996)
1963-2015
Erica Partosoedarso was born in Madison, Wisconsin, where her parents were Ph.D. scholarship students at the University of Wisconsin. Because of this experience, her father was determined that his children study abroad. Not knowing anyone, Partosoedarso left her home in Indonesia to attend the University of Adelaide in South Australia, a move that was very isolating at first to the reluctant trailblazer. Over time she made friends and established herself, thus preparing the way for her siblings to attend school. After earning a BSc in mathematics, Partosoedarso obtained an MA in mathematics at the University of Indiana in Bloomington in 1986. Her younger sister, Elita, spoke of Partosoedarso’s generosity and commitment to education. Partosoedarso provided education funding for her younger siblings’ children and, before she died, established an educational fund in Indonesia with her mother. In the spirit of Partosoedarso’s “pay-it-forward” philosophy, the fund stipulates that each scholarship winner sponsor two other scholars to go to university. Two people have since graduated using the fund. Partosoedarso is survived by her mother, her siblings and their spouses and children. She was preceded in death by her father. Her husband, Michael Lomax, FIA, died in the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.
Auto Safety Advocate
John “Jack” Simmons Trees (ACAS 1966)
1932-2016
Jack Trees died June 4, 2016, at the age of 84. He was born in Evanston, Illinois, grew up in Glencoe and was a 1954 graduate of DePauw University. Trees served as a first lieutenant in the Strategic Air Command of the United States Air Force from 1954 to 1957. Trees next took a position at Allstate Insurance Company, the organization that would become his home. He retired from the company as a group vice president. Trees became deeply involved in automobile safety, an interest that would lead him to government service. From 1972-1990, Trees was the director of the Highway Loss Data Institute in Washington. President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the National Highway Safety Advisory Commission in 1978. He also served on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (1987-1990) and Advocates for Auto and Highway Safety (1989-1990). Trees also volunteered within his community, serving as a member of Illinois’s Lake Bluff Board of Appeals from 1971-1978 and the Lake Bluff School Board from 1964-1971. He is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Dianne; children, Julie (J.D.) Watumull, Michael Trees, and Nancy Vogt; his sister, Joanne (Phillip) Davis; his grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
Track-and-Field Letterman
Kenneth L. Leonard Jr. (FCAS 2007)
1971-2016
Kenneth Lee Leonard Jr., 45, of Normal, Illinois, died October 7, 2016, surrounded by family. Leonard was born May 9, 1971, in Park Ridge, Illinois, to Kenneth and Barbara Hans Leonard Sr. He married his college sweetheart, Lana Waynette Davis, on November 6, 1993. Leonard graduated in 1989 from James B. Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. He graduated from Illinois State University in 1993, earning a BS in mathematics with an emphasis in actuarial science. At Illinois State, Leonard was a four-year track-and-field letterman and competed in the decathlon. He was Missouri Valley Conference Champion in the decathlon in 1991 and runner-up in 1992 and 1993. Leonard worked at Willis Towers Watson as a senior consultant and he was a consulting actuary for 18 years, thoroughly enjoying his work. Leonard was a faithful member Calvary Baptist Church for the last 20 years. He is survived by his wife; daughters, Machayla Ann and Mackenzie Lee; brothers, James (Sandra) Leonard and Joseph (Shannon) Leonard; sister, Michele Leonard Volo; grandmother, Elizabeth Hans; in-laws, Gordon and Ruth Ann Davis; sister-in-law, Dawn (Sam) Major; and many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
The Promising Student
Bernard H. Battaglin (ACAS 1970)
1933-2016
Bernard “Bernie” Battaglin died July 16, 2016, at the age of 83. The son of first-generation Italian-Americans, the Chicago native graduated from Fenger Academy High School in 1950 as a member and an officer of the National Honor Society. Battaglin was such a good student that he was one of only two recipients of a four-year Fire Protection and Safety Engineering Scholarship to the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. The Western Actuarial Bureau sponsored the scholarship awards. He also won a $100 scholarship to the college of his choice from the Chicago area Junior League through the Horace Mann Foundation. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology in January 1955. Battaglin became an ACAS in 1970 while working as an assistant manager for the Fire Insurance Research and Actuarial Association, located in Lower Manhattan. In the 1970s, Battaglin was working for ISO in New York and was part of an ISO group that developed simplified policies that were easier to read and understand. He was featured in an October 1975 Chicago Daily News article, “Easier-to-Read Insurance Policies May Become Insurer’s Policy.” He is survived by his wife, Jeannette.
The Linksman
Jerry A. Hillhouse (FCAS 1966)
1934-2017
Jerry A. Hillhouse of Bloomington, Illinois, died July 8, 2017. Born in 1934 in Marionville, Missouri, the son of John Allen and Pearle Catherine Butler Hillhouse, he married Mary Ellen Verfurth in Billings, Montana in 1957. Hillhouse earned a BS in mathematics from Southwest Missouri State, where he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon as well as Kappa Mu Epsilon, an honorary mathematics fraternity. A member of the Air Force ROTC, he was named in “Outstanding Young Men of America” in 1970. He worked at State Farm Insurance Company for 35 years as an actuary, retiring in 1992. He was a member of the Academy, the Midwestern Actuarial Forum and the Insurance Institute of America. Hillhouse enjoyed spending his time with his family, especially his grandchildren and great-granddaughter. He liked travel, golf and sports, and was a charter member of Crestwicke Country Club and a member of the McLean County Senior Golf Association. His community interests included the Knights of Columbus in Normal and the Central Illinois Mended Hearts Association. He is survived by his wife, three children, a sister, eight grandchildren, one great-granddaughter and his nieces and nephews.
Bridge Champ and Teacher
James Robert “Jim” Nikstad (FCAS 1983)
1949-2017
Community and education advocate, Jim Nikstad died July 7, 2017, at his home in Wausau, Wisconsin, surrounded by his devoted family. Nikstad was born in Superior, Wisconsin, the third of eight children, and grew up on the family farm. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a minor in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Superior and after served in the U.S. Army (1972-1974). He married Emalyn Tucker in 1976, the same year that he received a master’s in statistics from Marquette University. Nikstad was a fervent duplicate bridge player, becoming a Life Master with 1,225 master points and the Wisconsin Upper Michigan Bridge Association player of the year in his division four years running (2013-2016). Wherever he traveled, be it South Texas, Alaska or Edinburgh, Scotland, he and his wife would find a bridge game. In their retirement, the couple taught bridge lessons and shared their love of the game with many students, making many friends along the way. Nikstad is survived by his wife, three children, three grandchildren, his siblings and their spouses, four aunts, one uncle, his in-laws and many nieces, nephews and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother and sister, and his father-in-law.
Resort-Town Citizen
Howard R. Hardy (FCAS 1974)
1941-2016
Howard Rogers Hardy, 74, of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, lost his battle with ALS on January 28, 2016. He was born to Henry W. and Eleanor R. Hardy, and grew up in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Hardy graduated from Phillips Academy Andover in 1960 and The College of William and Mary in 1964. He was married to Karen (Kean) Hardy for 49 years. He joined the Travelers Insurance Companies in 1965 and became an actuary and senior vice president until he retired in 2004. He and his wife lived in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where they raised their children. He served on the CAS Examination Committee from 1974 to 1976. He retired to the lake town Wolfeboro, the “oldest summer resort in America,” and was very involved in the community. He was a member of the First Congregational Church and the Lions Club, and helped organize the Great Waters Music Festival. He served on the Wolfeboro Town Budget Committee and as a trustee of the Town Trust Funds. Hardy is survived by his wife; children, Jennifer (Brad) Backer, Kimberly Baylis, and Roger (Patricia) Hardy; brother, Henry W. Hardy; and four grandchildren. The family requested memorial donations to ALS research.
