George Fabe was a building contractor in Cincinnati.
For eight years, George was Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance
for Governor Dick Celeste.
George died July 28 and a memorial service was held last
Saturday at Cincinnati’s
University Club.
About one hundred twenty five guests attended the memorial.
Six speakers painted word-portraits of a loving, attentive father, successful
builder and active citizen
All of the speakers mentioned George’s public service at the
Ohio Department of Insurance.
Eight grandchildren offered their recollections of
George. One grandson remarked, to
appreciative laughter of the audience, “Grandpa always asked me ‘do you need
money?’and I always said ‘Sure.’
I worked for George for almost eight years, all but the first
ninety days of his appointment. From my
vantage point, I witnessed George lead projects that modernized the insurance
department, expanded its staff and restruck the balance of regulation to
protect policyholders and company solvency.
At the end of his eight year tenure, George had built a
regulatory institution with modern legal authorities and a staff large enough
to respond effectively to an aggressive financial industry.
Including myself, only three people from Columbus attended the memorial. The other two central Ohio residents in attendance were Egle
Gatins, an artist and Neil Rector, a regulatory consultant who had been
George’s deputy.
I didn’t recognize anyone from the insurance industry in
attendance. In a poignant way, that fact alone is a tribute to the man.
A memorial program was distributed at the University
Club. A photo of George, in one of his
usual Brooks Brothers suits and striped ties was on the program cover. A slide show of color photos, confirmed what I had guessed
when I first looked at the program cover.
The necktie was blue and maize. I
said to myself “I know that tie” and therein lies a story about George’s
relationship with the insurance industry.
One of the insurance industry’s antagonists to George and
his department was a partner at the Bricker law firm. Although George and that particular lawyer
disagreed on virtually everything, they maintained apparently cordial relations. No.
“Cordial” is too positive..
George was civil to the attorney.
Their paths crossed regularly at the Statehouse when they offered testimony on proposed insurance legislation. While their paths crossed regularly, George
and the lawyer never had crossed swords in a public venue.
Then one day at the House insurance committee, all decorum
was abandoned. George and the lawyer
started shouting abuse at one another which quickly descended into raw name-calling.
Who remembers what they were fighting about
and who started the fight?
The committee
chairman was Representative Mike Stinziano.
He used his gavel effectively and the two men stopped their name-calling. An awkward silence filled the committee
room.
Chairman Stinziano broke the silence with a statement that
“Well gentlemen, I think we all know that you disagree about a lot of matters,
but it is quite apparent to me that you agree on one thing.”
George and the lawyer looked perplexed and waited quietly
for the chairman to explain.
Chairman Stinziano said “You share the same taste in
neckties.”
George and the lawyer were wearing identical neckties.
I learned about the story from a friendly lobbyist who
called me almost immediately after the fight.
Good stories like this one are welcomed in government offices. When the lobbyist finished, I went to Neil
Rector, George’s deputy to tell him the story.
But the deputy had just heard the same story from another lobbyist.
But the identical neckties that these two men wore were not blue
and maize. That is the rest of the
story.
Neil and I decided that the
likelihood was that neither George nor the lawyer would wear their ties again. Perhaps we should buy new neckties for the men. New duplicate
neckties. I drove to Woodhouse Lynch and
bought two identical blue and maize neckties.
Woodhouse clerk wrapped the ties in separate gift boxes. Neil
reimbursed me for half of the price. He
did complain about the price but in the end he gave in and willingly paid his
half.
I delivered one of the gift boxes to the Bricker firm with a
note to the lawyer that I was certain that he had already tossed his other tie
into the waste basket and might be in need of a replacement. I never got a thank you note from the lawyer.
Neil gave the second gift box to George who wore the necktie
as a combat survivor’s badge.
Neil and I waited patiently for George and the Bricker
lawyer to meet unsuspectingly wearing identical ties again.
I don’t know if that ever happened. At some point we told George about our
prank. He was amused.
And, that is the story of the blue and maize tie that George
is wearing in the photograph.
Happy trails, George.
You are missed.
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