Ladies, please meet our friend Bob. The CEO of a major insurance company, in his late-60s, some might say bullheaded, certainly outspoken, but there’s a kindness to his eyes, and he summers in the palatial estate built for the treasurer of a Yugoslavian king, which is nice. On the other hand, possibly a cheapskate, and probably not marriage material, which is to say, he’s married, but maybe open to the idea of a little additional companionship.
From Jess Pressler’s New York magazine profile of American Insurance Group CEO Robert Benmosche:
Benmosche was so notoriously frugal that soon after they got married, his wife Denise granted him a divorce just to avoid unfavorable tax laws. “We were in the hotel in Santo Domingo, and I said, ‘Oh, look, honey, we can get a divorce for $400,’ ” she says. “I knew if we didn’t go through with it, he would be so angry come April 15.” Benmosche pulls a sitcom-husband face. They remarried the following year, although for the past ten they’ve had what he calls an “off-and-on relationship” that seems, at least in Croatia, to be mostly on. Still, Denise lives in Manhattan, while Benmosche, who has various “female companions,” lives mainly in tax-friendly Boca Raton. I’m wondering how rude it would be to ask if finances had anything to do with their not getting a second divorce when Benmosche comes up with an anecdote he says describes his “philosophy of life,” from when he was driving the Coke truck back in high school.
(If you count yourself as too classy to settle for the “various” companionship a government-owned CEO, fear not: Mr. Benmosche expects the Treasury to divest its remaining stake in AIG (AIG) by the end of the year.)
