Myron Du Bain, 79; Former Head of Fireman’s Fund

Myron Du Bain, 79, former chairman of the board and chief executive of the San Francisco-based Fireman’s Fund Corp., died of cancer July 18 in a San Francisco hospital.

Du Bain joined Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., as the company was previously known, as an insurance underwriter in 1946 after military service in World War II. He became president and chief executive in 1974, and chairman a year later.

After leading the company to seven years of record earnings growth, Du Bain retired in 1982. He then served as president and chief executive of AMFAC, a conglomerate whose holdings included agricultural land and retail stores.

The Cleveland-born Du Bain received a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in 1946 and later graduated from the Executive Program of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Du Bain, who served on more than a dozen corporate boards, was chairman of the James Irvine Foundation from 1989 to 1996.