F. McConnell; Ex-Insurance Chief
F. Britton McConnell, a former state insurance commissioner whose tenure involved beginning reduced rates for safe drivers and protection of the state workers’ compensation programs, died Saturday at his Los Angeles home, his son, B. Drew McConnell, said this week.
The former councilman and mayor of Beverly Hills was 94 and was replaced as insurance commissioner in 1964 in a policy dispute that McConnell said at the time would have diluted the independence of the office.
Born in New Orleans, McConnell came to Los Angeles as a teen-ager in 1910, was wounded by German gunfire in France during World War I and spent two years in a military hospital.
McConnell attended UC Berkeley Hastings College of Law at San Francisco and opened a private practice in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He became a member of the Beverly Hills City Council in 1948 and was mayor of that city from 1950 to 1952.
In 1956 he was named state insurance commissioner by Republican Gov. Goodwin J. Knight, succeeding John R. Maloney. A Republican, he was reappointed when Democratic Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown succeeded Knight.
After leaving public life, he returned to private practice, retiring only two years ago.
A widower, McConnell is survived by another son, Malcolm, a brother, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled at 2 p.m. Monday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills. Contributions are asked to be sent to the American Red Cross.
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