George Larry Wilson

George Larry Wilson, a beloved husband, father, grandfather and technology entrepreneur, passed away peacefully on April 18 in Palm Beach, Florida. Born July 31, 1946, Larry was the son of George Thomas Wilson and Charlcie Worrell Wilson. He was a longtime resident of Palm Beach, Florida; Columbia, South Carolina; the South Carolina Lowcountry; and New York City.

As a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of South Carolina, Larry began an internship at a local property and casualty insurance company in 1966 that would change his life. He earned a modest $100 a week working in the data processing department of Seibels Bruce Group. The experience left him obsessed with technology and its impact on the insurance industry. As a result, Larry wrote a host of software programs on mainframe COBOL systems for the company that included methods of automating policy administration, claims processing, premium calculations, and billing procedures. What started as an internship became not only Larry’s full-time job, but his lifelong passion. By 1974, Seibels Bruce Group began selling its software programs developed by Larry to the entire property and casualty industry under the name Policy Management Systems Corporation (PMSC). Named for the basic mainframe system that was its primary product, PMSC went public in 1981 with Larry becoming President and Chief Executive Officer of the business at the age of 35. He served as President & CEO of PMSC until it was merged with Computer Sciences Corporation in 2000.

Under his leadership PMSC achieved $800 million in revenues and numbered over 6,000 employees, with operations that served customers in 30 countries. Following PMSC, Larry devoted himself to investing in, mentoring, and supporting young entrepreneurs building technology for the insurance industry. He founded The Trelys Funds in 2001, and later joined Pequot Ventures and FirstMark Capital as a Venture Partner. Throughout, he served as Founder and Chairman of the Board of various insurance technology companies including Duck Creek Technologies, AssuredPartners, Worley Claims Services, Unitrends, Legent, Dovetail Insurance, Eagle Eye Analytics, FINEOS, and ISSCO Graphics. Referred to as the “The Father of InsurTech,” Larry exerted an impact on the property and casualty insurance industry that is unequaled. Throughout his professional career, roughly 70% of the insurance industry ran their business on one of the PMSC systems Larry created. Outside the office and boardroom, Larry applied his business acumen to developing strategies for the benefit of educational institutions in his home state: the University of South Carolina, Columbia (S.C.) College, Allen University, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, and the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts.

His family knew that Larry was happiest when building something and immersing himself in it, whether a new company or a Rybovich boat. He took pride in navigating the intracoastal waterway and captaining fishing trips to the Bahamas, even with the inevitable mishaps (“it’s all part of the adventure,” he would say when something went wrong with a boat or vintage car). He never lost his business touch even in pleasure pursuits, partnering with Michael Rybovich in 2011 to buy E&H BoatWorks in Palm Beach Gardens, FL to resurrect the Rybovich & Sons legacy.

His other passion was vintage cars. Larry built one of the country’s finest and most extensive car collections, with a particular fondness for Porsches dating from the 1950s until 1974. With his son Chris, he loved researching the provenance of each, restoring it to factory-correct standards, and showing it at various Concours d'Elegance around the country. He was an avid vintage car racer well into his 70s, winning many awards at vintage car events nationwide and holding the track records at Palm Beach International Raceway and Virginia International Raceway for vintage class cars.

Always an enthusiastic student, teacher and mentor, Larry delighted in sharing his love of boats and classic cars with his young grandsons while applying his keen intelligence to developing new skills. After earning his Private Pilot's Certificate, he relished piloting his own plane for his weekly commute to New York City, where he and his daughter Elizabeth would search out new restaurants and trade ideas for corporate strategizing, the beginning of a cherished business mentorship with his daughter that would last the rest of his life. Larry was devoted to his wife, Pat, and they were partners in all things; she worked alongside him as he built companies, and their mutual appreciation for and philanthropic support of education and the arts made for decades of joyful collaboration and enduring love. He took great pleasure in entertaining friends and family at the beach with his signature barbeque Pig Pickins’ and Beaufort Stew dinners. Always an adventurous spirit, Larry enjoyed exploring the world with his family, including far flung excursions to New Guinea and Russia, along with annual trips to Europe.

Larry is survived by his wife Patricia Ervin Wilson; his son Christopher Chadwick Wilson and his husband Charles C. Haynes; daughter Elizabeth Wilson Brown and her husband Michael Charles Brown Jr.; and grandsons Theodore Chadwick Brown, Walter Burns Brown, and Owen Pemberton Brown; and his last and best-loved dog, Lulu.