Norman O. Houston | |
|---|---|
 Houston as a soldier in World War I | |
| Born | October 16, 1893 [1] |
| Died | October 20, 1981 (aged 88) Los Angeles, California, US |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | California |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | President of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company |
Norman O. Houston was an American businessman and president of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, which at one time was the largest black-owned business west of the Mississippi.
Norman Oliver Houston was born on October 16, 1893, in San Jose, California, the son of Oliver Houston, a railroad porter and his wife, the former Lillian L. Jackson. His parents divorced when he was 12 years old. He was raised by his mother and stepfather in Fruitland, California, just outside Oakland. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of California, Berkeley for two years where he studied business administration. He then worked for approximately a year as a clerk for the board of insurance underwriters in California, before returning to UC Berkeley. [2]
However, his studies were interrupted this time by World War I. Houston was drafted by the U. S. Army, where he served as the regimental personnel adjutant with the 32nd Division—the only African American to hold that position in the entire army. Upon his discharge, he once again returned to UC Berkeley to attend summer school, but left the following fall to become an agent with the National Life Insurance Company in Los Angeles. At National Life, Houston sold insurance to black waiters and cooks at the railroad commissary. [2]
In the early 1920s, when William Nickerson, Jr. arrived in Los Angeles to establish a branch of the Texas-based American Mutual Benefit Association, he needed someone with local contacts who had some knowledge of the insurance business. As a result, he hired Houston as his first employee. Houston served as superintendent of agents for the new branch. In 1923, feeling he could make more money at a locally based company than one based out of state, Houston informed Nickerson that he signed a contract with Liberty Building and Loan Association. Houston was replaced by George A. Beavers, Jr., a Georgia-born businessman who was one of the first salesmen hired at the branch. [2]
Louis M. Blodgett was the principal figure behind Liberty, who would later start Angelus Funeral Home in Los Angeles in 1925. Houston worked there as a field manager with the difficult task of selling bonds to economically strapped African Americans. He did not stay long with Liberty in the wake of an appealing business opportunity from his former employer. [2]
In 1925, when William Nickerson, Jr. decided to form Golden State Guarantee Fund Insurance Company in Los Angeles he convinced Houston to join him in the new venture. Nickerson asked Houston, who had previously worked with the insurance commission, to meet with them to determine the requirements to form an insurance company in California. They decided to establish the firm under Chapter 6 of the Insurance Code which required that five hundred life insurance policies be obtained and paid for in advance, and that a fund of $15,000 be deposited with the Department of Insurance. Houston, with his financial contacts, was given the responsibility to raise the $15,000 through the sale of fifty dollar certificates. Golden State was granted their license on July 23, 1925. [2]
At this time it was very difficult for the approximately 40,000 blacks in California to obtain insurance from white-owned companies at reasonable rates. Starting in a small, one-room office on 1435 South Central Avenue, the initial officers were Nickerson (president), Beavers (vice president) and Houston as secretary/treasurer. In less than three months, the company had already outgrown their cramped offices and moved to a large storeroom on 3512 Central Avenue. Under Nickerson's leadership, Golden State Mutual prospered. [2] [3] [4] [5]
The following years were a period of rapid growth and expansion. By 1928, the company had grown to 100 employees and built a new headquarters at 4261 Central Avenue. That same year Golden State joined the National Negro Insurance Association. In 1931, the name was changed to Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company. The firm opened its first office outside of California in 1938 when a branch was established in Chicago. Also in 1938, the officers asked the insurance commission to allow them to convert from assessment to legal reserve status. This required a $250,000 fund be deposited with the state, which was completed by 1941. In 1944, Golden State opened an office in Nickerson's home state of Texas. When Nickerson died in 1945, Houston assumed leadership of the company. At that time, Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company was the seventh largest black insurance firm in the United States and the largest black-owned business west of the Mississippi. [2] [4]
With Houston at the helm, Golden State Mutual continued its growth and expansion. In 1946, they set up their Funeral Services Division. Three years later, the company opened a new building on the corner of Adams Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles that was designed by prominent architect Paul Williams. During the 1950s, Golden State expanded operations into Oregon, Washington and Arizona. They also installed electronic data processing systems and began offering mortgage insurance and group insurance. Houston served as president and chief executive officer of Golden State until January 1967, when he became chairman of the board and chief executive officer. [2]
In 1970, Houston's two sons, Norman B. Houston and Ivan J. Houston took over active management of the company. The younger Norman, replaced his father as chairman of the executive committee. Ivan would replace the retiring Edgar J. Johnson as president. [6] However, the elder Houston would still serve in various capacities at Golden State Mutual until his retirement in 1977, after which he was named honorary chairman and chairman emeritus. [7]
Houston also continued to be involved in other business activities. In 1947, he was one of the organizers of Broadway Federal Savings and Loan (later Broadway Federal Bank and served as its chairman of the board for many years. He also was briefly involved in the organization of the National Bank of Los Angeles in 1949, which was the brainchild of H. A. Howard, manager of Broadway Federal. [2]
The first African American to be appointed to the California State Athletic Commission, Houston would later serve as chairman of the commission. Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty appointed him to the 1976 Olympic Games Committee. Houston was also chairman of the management committee of the 28th YMCA in Los Angeles. [2]
Houston died in Los Angeles on October 20, 1981, just four days after his 88th birthday. [8] In addition to his sons, Houston was survived by his widow, Edythe and a daughter, Elizabeth Jean. [7]
Paul Revere Williams, FAIA was an American architect based in Los Angeles, California. He practiced mostly in Southern California and designed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Lon Chaney, Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Correll. He also designed many public and private buildings.
John Harold Johnson was an American businessman and publisher. Johnson was the founder in 1942 of the Johnson Publishing Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson's company, with its Ebony (1945) and Jet (1951) magazines, was among the most influential African-American business in media in the second half of the twentieth century. In 1982, Johnson became the first African American to appear on the Forbes 400. In 1987, Johnson was named Black Enterprise Entrepreneur of the year. in 1996, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Howard Fieldstad Ahmanson Sr. was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the founder of an insurance and savings and loan association, H.F. Ahmanson & Co. He made his fortune during the Great Depression selling fire insurance for property under foreclosure. He also bought real estate and invested in oil.
Nickerson Gardens is a 1,066-unit public housing apartment complex at 1590 East 114th Street in Watts, Los Angeles, California. Nickerson Gardens is the largest public housing development west of the Mississippi River and was the first home of many notable people, including Jazz Joy and Roy Global Radio host Roy O’Dell Gray, who, according to Hollywood insiders, is the first cousin of Mary Mary Super Producer Warryn Campbell.
Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. (JPC) was an American publishing company founded in November 1942 by African-American businessman John H. Johnson. It was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. JPC was privately held and run by Johnson until his death in 2005. His publications "forever changed the popular representation of African Americans." The writing portrayed African Americans as they saw themselves and its photojournalism made history. Led by its flagship publication, Ebony, Johnson Publishing was at one time the largest African-American-owned publishing firm in the United States. JPC also published Jet, a weekly news magazine, from November 1951 until June 2014, when it became digital only. In the 1980s, the company branched into film and television.
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Isaac Lolette Jones was an American film producer and actor. In June 1953, he became the first Black American graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and, Television and the first Black American to serve as a producer on a major motion picture.
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Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, was once the largest black-owned insurance company in the western United States, founded by William Nickerson Jr. with the assistance of Norman Oliver Houston and George Allen Beavers Jr.
Andrew Spurgeon "Doc" Young was an American sports journalist and author. He was also one of the first African American publicists working in Hollywood. Throughout his career he received numerous honors from the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
William Nickerson Jr. was a prominent Los Angeles–based businessman and founder of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, which at one time was the largest black-owned business west of the Mississippi.
George A. Beavers Jr. was the board chairman of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, which at one time was the largest black-owned business west of the Mississippi.
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Theodore A. Jones (1912–2001) was a leading insurance industry figure who held important positions within both the public and private sectors.
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James Homer Garrott Jr. (1897–1991), was an American architect active in the Los Angeles area in the mid-20th century. He designed more than 200 buildings, including twenty-five churches and several public buildings. He has been described as a "pivotal black avant garde modernist of the 1940s era."
NC Mutual was an American life insurance company located in downtown Durham, North Carolina and one of the most influential African-American businesses in United States history. Founded in 1898 by local black social leaders, its business increased from less than a thousand dollars in income in 1899 to a quarter of a million dollars in 1910. The company specialized in "industrial insurance," which was basically burial insurance. The company hired salesmen whose main job was to collect small payments to cover the insured person for the next week. If the person died while insured, the company immediately paid benefits of about 100 dollars. This covered the cost of a suitable funeral, which was a high prestige item in the black community. It began operations in the new tobacco manufacturing city of Durham, North Carolina, and moved north into Virginia and Maryland, then to major northern black urban centers, and then to the rest of the urban South.
William Etienne "Bill" Pajaud was an African-American artist, primarily working in watercolor, known for his paintings exploring themes of jazz. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and died in Los Angeles, California, on June 16, 2015, at the age of 89. He was the curator of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Fine Art Collection.
The Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building is a landmark 5-story, 84 ft (26 m) office building in the Late Modern style built in 1949 as the headquarters for its namesake company. The building was designed by Paul Revere Williams, the noted African-American Architect. The building is located in West Adams in South Los Angeles about 3.5 miles southwest of Downtown Los Angeles and 2 miles northwest of Exposition Park and USC. This was the company's second building to bear this name, the first having been built in 1928.