How Great-West Life became an insurance titan

Great-West Life's roots date back to 1891, when thecompany was founded in Winnipeg and a man named Jeffrey Hall Brock had a dream that many called impossible.

At the time, there were 40 insurance companies in Canada and 31 of those were foreign-owned. None of the nine Canadian ones were based inWestern Canada,according to George Siamandas, a Winnipeg historian who runs The Winnipeg Time Machine blogsite.

Brock was a local insurance agent who promoted the idea of a Winnipeg-based insurance company, thinking a local company would be more sensitive to the needs of westerners, Siamandaswrote.

Brockwas scoffed at andtold that his dream would not fly, that it was impossible. But he persevered and the company was incorporatedon Aug.28, 1891, andhad leading citizens like hardware magnate James Ashdownon its board.Brock'sgoal was to take in $1 million worth ofpremiumsin the first year,Siamandaswrote.

At the board's first annual meeting, he reported they sold $2.7 million.

The company's first death claim was in 1893 for $1,000, and in 1912 twopolicyholders who died on the Titanic were covered.

By 1896, the company served clients across Canada and in 1906 it opened its first office in the U.S. in Fargo, N.D. The next year, it was the largest insurance company in Canada and had 100 employees in Winnipeg and 600 agents across the country.

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In 1911, the company built its head office in Winnipeg's Exchange District, on the corner of Rorie Streetand Lombard Avenue.

In 1942, GWL becamethe first Canadian company to enter the accident and health insurance business.

In 1960, the company moved to a new building onOsborneStreet constructed on the site of the old Osborne Stadiumacross from the legislative building, and in1983 it expanded into another new building at Broadway andOsborne.

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Still headquartered on Osborneand a publicly-traded company, Great-WestLifeco(GWL)is now one of North America's largestfinancialholding companies.

Indirectly controlled by Montreal billionairePaulDesmarais,through his stake in thePower Corporation of Canada aCanadian holding company GWLnowserves more than 13 million people across Canada, offeringinsurance as well as investment, savings and retirement income plans and annuities.

In 1997, it took over the then-123-year-old London Life and in2003, GWL acquired another one of the country's oldest insurance companies, paying $7.3 billion CDN for the then-156-year-old Canada Life Financial.

The company'snetwork includesThe Great-West Life AssuranceCompany, London Life Insurance Company,Canada Life Financial, Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co., Irish Life, andPutnam Investments.