Rhodes & Williams insurance brokerage mourns loss of founder at age 105

It is with great sadness that Rhodes & Williams Insurance Brokers informs the insurance community that brokerage co-founder, Wendell Osgood Williams, has passed away.

“This is a difficult time for the Rhodes & Williams family, however Wendell’s ceaseless passion for others in community will continue to be a source of great inspiration for us in moving forward,” stated Cory Young, Chief Operating Officer at Rhodes & Williams Ltd. “Wendell lived to the astonishing age of 105 years old and every day was lived to the fullest,” he added.

Born on February 18

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, 1910 in Sawyerville, Quebec, Wendell Williams would go on to establish his own insurance agency business in 1935 with Travelers Insurance Company which, in 1970, merged to become Rhodes & Williams Ltd. Under his guidance and watchful eye, Rhodes & Williams became one of the largest insurance brokerages in the Ottawa region.

Today, the brokerage boasts more than sixty employees, operating out of offices in both Toronto and Ottawa, who serve the needs of over ten thousand clients and their families. “All of us here at the firm, one way or another, are where we are because of him,” said Young. “We are an active part of his legacy and we try to live up to that every day.”

Predeceased by his loving wife Marjorie Younghusband, Wendell was the son of the late Rev. Fred and Julia Williams, brother of Naomi Gibson and the late Sid and Herb Williams. He will be sadly missed by his daughters Janet Wilson (George) and Barbara Cheadle (Rob), his many nephews and nieces, eight grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren.