Our Gordon Tower Insurance Agency History
Our Gordon Tower Insurance History starts with the History of Ohio Valley Insurance Company
On Aug 20 1948, Ohio Valley Automobile Insurance Company opened its doors in East Liverpool, OH with 4 employees. Basil Mangano, an Italian from E Liverpool owned the small insurance company which was “in a steamy second floor walk-up.” (Whatever that means!) The address was W 7th St & Jackson above a furniture store. The second Ohio Valley Automobile Insurance office was at 323 Broadway in East Liverpool & had Ohio Valley Auto Protection upstairs, while auto parts were on sale downstairs. By 1949, the company expanded to include Bodily Injury liability, property damage liability, and medical coverage.
Basil Mangano had an appliance store & repaired & sold appliances & also sold & repaired the few cars that were around back then in the USA. He “insured” them by selling the owner an auto, then if they wrecked it, he would have them bring it by & he would “fix it for free”. Mangano had Francis Lang organize Ohio Valley Automobile Insurance so he could “legally” issue insurance policies. He also started carrying auto parts & supplies for this purpose. Soon the Ohio Dept of Insurance caught wind of this practice. Who did they send to investigate/possible fine or prosecute? Gap Corso.
Grandpa Gaspare (Gap) Corso was a well-connected, brilliant & accomplished Italian attorney that had Mangano as a client. Mangano had either been sued by or was suing every person in E Liverpool, as the story goes. In 1952, Gap Corso acquired the controlling interests of Ohio Valley Insurance Automobile Company, now finding himself at the head of a floundering company that he renamed Ohio Valley Insurance. (OVI). Gap thus became the new owner of just the Ohio Valley Insurance portion of Managano’s high risk business.
Gap brought on board close friends Charlie Lally & George Matejka, who were both there from the beginning (1952) & both came from a reciprocal insurance company called Cleveland Insurance Exchange, where Gap had been President & General Manager. George was the Comptroller/Secretary for OVI (which would be Finance today) & Chalie Lally was the 1st OVI Adjuster. George was 26 years old. Charlie was in his 40s & Gap was 47. OVI was still located in E. Liverpool. The few agents canvassed the Ohio River Valley towns, writing only Fire & Theft & comprehensive & deductible insurance on the ever increasing autos in the post-World War II boom.
By 1953, Gap took OVI off Basil Mangano’s hands in lieu of Attorneys fees that Basil owed Gap for unpaid legal services Gap went down to E Liverpool & resolved the “problem” by buying Mangano out.
Also in 1953, tragedy befell Gap when he was 48 years old. He lost his beloved wife (Grandma Dorothy Murie Corso – Phyllis Bodnar’s Mom – Michael Bodnar’s Grandma), & became a widower w/3 kids. Michael’s Mom Phyllis was only 12. Gap threw himself into the heart & soul of the company & grew the fledgling insurance company exponentially, from only 3 employees to about 70 employees in 15 year period. Incredible growth! (There were 75 employees by 1968, according to 1968 PaddleWheel Newsletter). George handled all the finances.
Gap had worked 10 years w/the Dept of Insurance, 3 years as VP & Director of a Mutual Insurance company & 2 years as President & General Manager of a Reciprocal Insurance Company called Cleveland Insurance Exchange (where Lally & Matejka were employees), which he organized & established. He was also an Attorney & a member of the Board of Cleveland Transit System (he was one of the Founders of RTA in Cleveland!). Grandpa Gap was not in need financially & was on the Board of RTA so took a tiny salary for himself to run OVI.
Later that same year (1953) Gap moved OVI to Cleveland closer to his home & his 3 children & where all of his contacts were. Tower Insurance Agency was organized by Gap at that same time to be a standalone insurance agency, a separate entity to the OVI insurance company. Gap moved it to an upstairs suite at 4300 Euclid Ave in downtown Cleveland.
He also brought in his eldest son, an attorney, Uncle Al Corso (Gaspare Allen Corso) to run the OVI company with him in 1954. His youngest son, Uncle Joe Corso, also an attorney, was brought in a year later, around 1955. Uncle Al Corso later replaced Charlie Lally as OVI Adjuster. The sons were only 23 & 25 years old at the time. About 5 years later, around 1959, Jim Bodnar was a 19 year old auto mechanic who was brought in a year later, in 1960, when he married Phyllis Corso Bodnar (Michael’s Mom) at only age 20. First born Michael Bodnar came along in 1961.
After years of steady growth, in 1962, Ohio Valley organized & activated its surety dept. and deposited $200,000 of its securities w/the Ohio Insurance Dept. In 1963, the lucrative Ohio Valley Insurance Company acquired its own 4 story building at 3030 Euclid Ave in downtown Cleveland & moved the business there.
By 1968, it operated on the Independent Agency System & wrote business throughout OH in all 88 counties with 75 employees working for Ohio Valley & nearly 300 licensed Agents working in the field! The bulk of OVIs business was in Cuyahoga, Summit, Lucas, Franklin, Montgomery & Hamilton Counties. There were branch offices in Akron & Columbus that Uncle Al was established. Eventually OVI had branch offices not just in Akron & Columbus, but also Toledo & Dayton. Al Corso (Phyllis Corso’s brother, Michael Bodnar’s Uncle Al) played an integral part in setting up & establishing all 4 branches and also hired & brought in the Branch managers at each location..
Ohio Valley Insurance (OVI) was lucrative enough to giveaway some huge fantastic prizes to agency contest winners:from the 1968 Paddle Wheel Newsletter: On March 14, 1968, Ohio Valley Insurance threw a dinner banquet at the University Club of Cleveland where Agents were presented plaques (all men of course! no women!) & their wives were presented w/flowers. There were 155 agents competing for huge prizes including a 22 day European vacation for 2 (WOW!!) to an RCA Color Console TV (lol!) Winners were: Ralph P. Sills of Sills Insurance Agency in Mayfield Hts (22days European vacation). Ralph was also one of OVI stock holders (note: source says the newsletter from 1968 is incorrect on this fact – Ralph was never a OVI stock holder.)
The 5 stockholders were Herbert H Lederer -Founder & President of Lederer Terminals Warehouse Company. Lederer Terminals was a recognized landmark on the Lake Erie working waterfront in the mid 1900’s. (His son, Bruce Lederer just died Jan 9,2016 at age 86 in Aurora, OH. He ran Lederer Terminals after his father. Bruce contributed to the formation of the Cleveland Food bank.) & Herb Hauser - President of Tower Press (I go to an amazing open studio art show there every year!) From obit: Herbert Christian Hauser, 97, Bradenton, died July 7, 2003. He was born Dec. 5, 1905, in Cleveland and came to Manatee County in 1980. He was an attorney for the Insurance Co. of North America. He then worked for the Evangelical Publishing House in Cleveland, and eventually became president as the company's name was modified to Tower Press Inc. Later, he was instrumental in the formation of several companies, including CATV, Telerama and Thermoscan.) Frank V. Opaskar -born 1904,died on November 27, 1975 at the of 71, wife was Alice & Grandpa Gap & George.
Ralph Sills owned one of the largest armor & gun collections in the area. 2nd prize went to Jack L. Gimbel of Gimbel Agency in Kent (10 day Carribean vacation)3rd prize went to Ralph Anthony & Don Pandolfi of Anthony Insurance Agency in Cleveland (1 week Mexico) 4th prize went to Tom B Ryan of Ryan Insurance Agency in Dayton (1 week in Nassau)5th prize went to Commodore (yes! this was his name!) C Schneid of Scheid Insurance Agency of Sandusky (RCA Color Console TV) (wow! had to be a big deal back then too!) Sam J Foliano of Foliano Insurance Agency in Garfield Hts also won an RCA Color Console TV for being the prize winning new agent.
Ohio Valley Insurance also revamped & expanded their Underwriting Dept. in 1968 which offered improved company-agency communication, made possible by contact with only one underwriter, better policy control, which enabled OVI to answer questions & correspondence promptly by being familiar w/agent’s policyholders, Prompt processing of policies, avoiding delays in billing items & credits on cancellations, & establishment of a good working relationship w/each agent in their office to assist “him” in better understanding the agency operations & routines.
Ohio Valley Insurance also mailed out revised rate manual in March of 1968 which included things like increased commissions, publishing of collision rates (“percentages will no longer be used when computing collision premiums.”) the addition of 2 renewal groups facilitating a more realistic renewal rate reduction, offering excess limits to 100/300/25,000 on all sub-standard risks, increasing limits on Comprehensive & Collision to $5,000 (wow! money was worth a lot more back than!), reduction in $50 deductible comprehensive rates (geez – how could you go any lower than that?) the addition of $25 Deductible Comprehensive for all Substandard groups (well, there you go - $25!), simplification of the Point Evaluation schedule (probably a way for their agents to earn point toward these elaborate trips & prizes) & reduction of flat charge for $50 deductible collision on groups AA to A from $40 to $20. Lastly, reclassification of commercial vehicles of 1500 pounds or less to be rated as class 3.
Anthony (Tony) Cellebreeze Sr was Mayor of Cleveland from 1953- 1962 (he went to Law School - Ohio Northern - w/Gap -. He was OH State Senator from 1951-1953. He was United States Secretary of Health, Education & Welfare under Kennedy & Johnson from 1962-1965. He was Judge of United States Court of Appeals from 1965 – 1980 under Lyndon Johnson.– according to a reliable source, Gap went down to see him in Columbus & basically said “I want you to run for Mayor of Cleveland.” Tony said “I don’t want that job.” Gap said “yeah you do.” & succeeded in presenting him with 1,000 names Gap had already petitioned! lol! Grandpa Gap was a very persuasive man. And Tony Cellebreeze‘s brother, Joe Cellebreeze, was the Head Underwriter of OVI around 1963.
Progressive Insurance History – which is directly connected to Ohio Valley Insurance History: Joe Lewis, Grandpa Gap & Jack Green (all lawyers – hooked up around 1939. In 1951, Progressive had offices at 3600 Euclid Ave. (right near Gap: 3030 Euclid) started up in 1956 what is today known as the insurance giant Progressive Insurance. Pete Louis(Princeton graduate), Joe Louis’ son, later took it over & became CEO in 1965. Progressive’s website says it became a publicly held company in 1971. The website also states “Organized in 1956, along with 3 other related insurance agencies.” Ohio Valley Insurance plus 2 others?
By 1971, Ohio Valley Insurance was in financial trouble. The state took over & sold the business to Progressive Insurance in 1971 so Ohio Valley Insurance (the insurance carrier company portion only) was transferred to Progressive officially around 1972.
After Progressive took over all of OVI company assets in 1972, Gap went back to law w/associate lawyer Edwin Fertman, (they shared offices) jewish attorney born - November 24, 1905, died December 31, 1993 at age 88,Son of Samuel Fertman and Lillie Fertman (Kolofsky), Ex-husband of Diane R. Fertman ,Father of Braman, Brother of Morris, Beatrice Smelsey, Manuel Fertman; Anna Sternberg and Elisabeth) – their law office were at 1210 Citizens building downtown Cleveland.
Grandpa Gap Corso, George, Uncle Al Corso& Uncle Joe Corso all left OVI around 1972. Son-in-law Jim Bodnar (Michael’s Dad) stayed on board to run the agency portion of the company in 1971, designated Tower Insurance by Grandpa Gap. Jim Bodnar became president of Tower Insurance when he was only 31 and built the company to what it is today. Michael was age 10.
Michael’s Dad sold the family agency founded by his father-in-law Gap Corso, now called Tower Insurance, not to his own son Michael and daughter-in-law Mary, but to an outside agency with no family connections, called Insurance Systems Group in Independence in April of 2015.
Grandpa Gap Corso’s grandson Michael J. Bodnar went on to become President & Owner of Gordon Tower Insurance Agency and has been successfully selling insurance as a licensed agent to a wide variety of customers for the past 33 years, as of 2021. With a BSBA from Cleveland State University, Michael started his insurance career with Allstate in 1988. He became an independent agent in 1994 with Tower Insurance. He took over the helm at Gordon Tower Insurance in June 2007 when prior owner Bob Gordon retired. Gordon Tower Insurance is a full service independent agency. Michael & Mary Bodnar moved Gordon Tower Insurance to Lakewood in Nov 2015, which was their hometown.
Foot Notes/Sources/References: 1st company newsletter was published in April 1968 (The Paddle Wheel) by Patricia Robertson. Grandpa Gap who was 63 years old in 1968 had spent 33 years in the insurance industry, 10 years w/the Dept of Insurance, 3 years as VP & Director of a Mutual Insurance Company, 2 years as President & General Mgr of a Reciprocal Insurance Company called Cleveland Insurance Exchange, which he organized & established, & 16 years already with Ohio Valley Insurance & Tower Insurance Agency.
Sad Note: Grandpa Gap Corso died in 1986. Uncle Al Corso died in 1988. Phyllis Corso Bodnar died in 2005. Uncle Joe Corso died 2015. This article took me a full year, extensive interviews, online research, & obit searches & a lot of research to write. Photos & facts are also from the 1968 Newsletter, the only one in my possession.
Please email me any add’l Cleveland Insurance History facts & stories relevant to this researched article to mlbod@gtowerins.com Thank you! Mary L. Bodnar