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Five men will be inducted into the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame in a May 19 ceremony at Drake University in Des Moines.

The 2010 inductees are Graham Cook, Robert Dee and Robert Jester, all of Greater Des Moines; William Ambrisco of Iowa City; and the late William Koch.

• Graham Cook is the chairman and president of West Des Moines-based Homesteaders Life Co. While still a Drake student, nearly 45 years ago, Cook started as a part-time employee in the Homesteaders print shop. He rose through the ranks and was named president in 1995 and chairman in 1999.

Cook also has served as president of the National Alliance of Life Companies and president of the Federation of Iowa Insurers. He is on the board of directors of the American Council of Life Insurers Forum 500.

• Robert Dee came to Des Moines in 1959 to work for Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., then joined Holmes Murphy & Associates Inc. in 1960. He climbed the corporate ladder, serving in several positions, and became president in 1978. Dee was named chairman and CEO in 1990.

Now retired, Dee served the community as a board member of the Greater Des Moines Chamber of Commerce Federation, the Des Moines Development Corp. and the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, among other roles.

• Robert Jester joined in 1964 the family business that his grandfather, Joshua Jester, had started in 1897. He’s still on the job as the president of Jester Insurance Services Inc.

Jester is a past president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa and has been a board member and president of both the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and the Order of the Knoll, a donor-recognition group for the Iowa State University Foundation.

• William Ambrisco combined an insurance career with service in city government in Iowa City. A past president of AW Welt Ambrisco Insurance Inc., Ambrisco also served on the Iowa City City Council from 1984 to 1994 and was the mayor in 1986-87.

He also served as chairman of the Johnson County Council of Governments for several years and was a member of the Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission. He also led the community in other ways; for example, Ambrisco was president of the Iowa Quarterback Club and a member of the University of Iowa Presidents Club.

• William Koch, who passed away in 1964, took an unusual route into the insurance industry. In 1905, while working at the family’s Koch Bros. Printing Co., he was named a director of The Brotherhood of American Yeomen to secure that company’s debt to the printing company.

Koch went on to become president of The Brotherhood of American Yeomen, vice president of Royal Union Life and president of State Life Insurance. From 1930 to 1956, he was president and then chairman emeritus of National Travelers Life Co.

The 14th annual induction ceremony for the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame will be held May 19 at Drake University’s Olmsted Center. The social hour begins at 5 p.m., followed by dinner at 6 and the program at 6:45. Individual tickets cost $30, and reserved tables for eight are available for $300.

Reservations must be made by May 13. Contact Melissa Meiners at the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa office by phone at (515) 223-6060, Ext. 15, or by e-mail at Melissa@IIAIowa.org.