Bankers Life & Casualty Co. was small and nearly bankrupt when Chicago insurance salesman John D. MacArthur purchased it in 1935. The new owner used the company to sell insurance by mail, which proved to be a profitable business. By the 1950s, Bankers Life & Casualty was the nation's largest privately owned insurance company. By the mid-1970s, the company had nearly 5,000 Chicago-area employees. In 1978, after the death of MacArthur, his holdings in the company were transferred to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a large nonprofit organization based in Chicago. In 1992, Bankers Life was acquired by Conseco Inc. of Indiana.

This entry is part of the Encyclopedia's Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000) that was prepared by Mark R. Wilson, with additional contributions from Stephen R. Porter and Janice L. Reiff.