QUIRK AND COMPANY - Key Persons
W.H. Quirk, Sr. brought his two sons into the ownership of the general agency. W.H. Quirk, Jr. had been associated with the general agency off and on from 1930. Frank left the State insurance department on April 1, 1940 to rejoin Quirk & Company on a full time basis.
Robert C. Quirk graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1967 with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with honors and was inducted to the Beta Gamma Sigma academic honor society.
In 1969, he became a licensed CPA and joined Haskins & Sells as a senior accounting assistant in Dallas, Texas. In 1974, he obtained his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas School of Law. That same year he was admitted to the State Bar of Texas.
Since 1961, Robert Quirk worked with Quirk & Company in both full and part time roles becoming the manager in 1974, after his graduation from law school. To expand the markets for Quirk & Company, he visited and contracted with Lloyd's of London Underwriters. This contract has successfully remained in place for over 40 years.
As a respected leader in the wholesale insurance industry, he served as an advisor regarding insurance matters to the State of Texas during legislative sessions. With his visionary leadership, the first state legislation paving the way for The Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas became law.
He was the past president and chairman of the board of directors of the Texas Surplus Lines Association (TSLA). He served on the executive committee of the American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA), was a member of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) Legislative Committee, and served, in an advisory role, as vice president and secretary of National Unity Insurance Company from 1984 to 1991.
Quirk & Company was founded in San Antonio on June 1, 1930, with the first contracted company being Southern Fire Insurance Company of St. Louis, Missouri. This company shortly thereafter became the home of New York's group of companies. In the beginning our contracted companies were all property insurance companies. The original name of the company was W.H. Quirk & Co., with Fred McAllister, who was property underwriter for many years with the Hornberger-Beckmann General Agency, joining W.H. Quirk, Sr. after about ninety days. The name of the company became Quirk & McAllister.
W.H. Quirk Sr. Started in the insurance business in Chicago, Illinois with the Continental of New York. He came to Texas in 1909 to work for the old Woulett Rating Bureau. This operation became the State Fire Insurance Division. Mr. Quirk later worked for the Seinsheimer operation in Galveston, the Republic Insurance Company of Dallas, Texas, and as state agent for Northwestern National Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He brought the Northwestern National to the Hornberger-Beckman General Agency when he joined the in the early 1920's. He was special agent for Hornberger-Beckmann until he started his own general agency on June 1, 1930.