K K Weatherhead

Society of Actuaries obituary


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Kenneth Kilpatrick Weatherhead died in Glasgow, Scotland, on September 26, 1979, in his eighty-first year.

In April, 1956, Kenneth K Weatherhead was admitted as a Fellow of the Society without examination. This was under the special provision of Article 3 of the Constitution whereby the Board of Governors may recommend for the approval of the Society special admission of an individual, not resident in the United States or Canada, who has gained outstanding recognition and distinction in actuarial work.

Kenneth Weatherhead was a Scot born in Glasgow, educated at Dundee High School and Edinburgh University, where, in 1922 after war service in the Scots Guards, he graduated with first-class honours in mathematics and natural philosophy.

He became a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries in 1925 and served the Faculty faithfully in a number of capacities: he was chairman of the board of examiners from 1935 to 1948, editor of TFA from 1935 to 1945, honorary secretary from 1948 to 1952, and, finally, president from 1954 to 1956. He was serving as president at the time of the centenary of the Faculty in 1956. He was a founding member of the Scottish Actuaries Club. He was also vice-president for Great Britain of the International Actuarial Association from 1960 to 1965 and twice served as chairman of the Associated Scottish Life offices, in 1950-52 and 1958-60. His business career began in Edinburgh in 1922 with the Scottish Life Assurance Company, Ltd. Seven years later he became assistant actuary of the Scottish Equitable Life Assurance Society, of which he ultimately became joint actuary, before going in 1939 to Glasgow to the Scottish Temperance and General Assurance Company, Ltd. (now the Scottish Mutual Assurance Society), as joint secretary. In 1946 he was appointed manager and actuary of the Scottish Mutual, and he occupied this position until his retirement in 1963. He remained on the board of directors of the Scottish Mutual until 1977.

His insurance interests were not confined to the life business, as is evidenced by the fact that he was president of the Chartered Insurance Institute from 1960 to 1961. In 1962 he was elected an honorary member of the Insurance Society of New York.

Outside the business sphere, Mr Weatherhead was active in many voluntary fields. He was an elder of Wellington Church, Glasgow, for thirty years, and among other offices he had been a vice-president of the National Bible Society of Scotland and the honorary general treasurer of the Girls Guildry.

A recital of his activities, both professional and non-professional, unfortunately cannot do more than give you a surface picture of the man. A man of quiet ways with many friends both inside and outside the insurance business, he had a dry sense of humour that was ever present in intimate surroundings. The published proceedings of the Faculty centenary give a somewhat larger picture of Kenneth Weatherhead. Those of us who attended the centenary find it impossible to think of the occasion without remembering the very gracious gentleman who presided with great distinction over the proceedings.

He is survived by his widow, two sons, and five grandchildren. His daughter predeceased him in 1973

This obituary of Weatherhead appears in: Kenneth Kilpatrick Weatherhead, Kenneth Kilpatarick Weatherhead, Transactions of Society of Actuaries 31 (1979), 591-593.