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[[image - Ivan J. Houston, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer]]

GOLDEN STATE
Mutual Life Insurance Company

[[image - Left to Right: Co-Founder George A. Beavers, Jr., Founder William Nickerson, Jr., Norman O. Houston (Co-Founder).]]

GOLDEN STATE MUTUAL LIFE: THE BEGINNING

Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company stands today as a symbol of black enterprise in this community. This company, dedicated to providing peace of mind and security to countless families throughout the country, represents an important element of black history in the United States, GSM is one of the few insurance companies left to provide continuous home service to its policyowners throughout the debit agent.

GSM's founder, William Nickerson, Jr., migrated from Texas to Los Angeles in 1921. As a professional insurance man, he found that of the nearly 40,000 blacks who lived in California, only a small number were able to insure their lives. With few exceptions, existing Insurance companies regarded black people as uninsurables or as extraordinary risks. So, blacks were either denied life insurance coverage altogether or were accepted only at discriminatory premium rates. He set out to change this.

There were others who shared Mr. Nickerson's dissatisfaction, Mr. Norman O. Houston, a young insurance salesman from Northern California, and George A. Beavers, Jr., a Georgia-born Los Angeles businessman and church leader. Together, in 1924, these three men put into being a tradition which still exists today.

In July of 1925, the Golden State Guarantee Fund Insurance Company moved into a cubicle-sized office on Central Avenue in Los Angeles and began operation. 79 days later, the company outgrew the small office and moved to a larger one. Growth was steady. By 1945, the company had moved its headquarters three times and had expanded its services to Pasadena, Bakersfield, San Diego, Fresno, El Centro, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Bernardino (California); Chicago, IL, and Houston, TX.

It was also 1945 when founder William Nickerson, Jr. died. Co-founder Norman O. Houston was elected president, George A.

[[image - Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company Home Office Building.]]

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