COCHRAN, GEORGE IRA, President of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, attorney and financier, Los Angeles, Cal., was born in Oshawa, Province of Ontario, Canada, on July 1, 1863, son of Rev. George Cochran, D.D., and Catherine Lynch (Davidson) Cochran. Mr. Cochran has been twice married. His first wife was Alice Maud McClung, whom he wedded in Canada on August 6, 1890; his second wife was a sister of the first, Isabelle May McClung, and was married to Mr. Cochran in Los Angeles on April 3, 1907.
His education was had in private schools in Tokyo, Japan; Collegiate Institute, Toronto, and the University of Toronto; he was admitted as barrister-at-law at Osgood Hall, Toronto, shortly after graduation, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of California in February, 1888, the year of his arrival in Los Angeles, where he has since made his home and the scene of his busy career.
His primary occupation of the practice of law, combined with long and studious visits to Europe and the Orient, served to prepare his mind and develop his mentality for the tasks which they were to undertake; qualities which were further strengthened by an inheritance of strong character and rectitude from his forbears; his father was a most prominent religious factor in Toronto, and his mother was a descendant of the Wesleys, the founders of the Methodist Church; it is thus an atavistic trait of Mr. Cochran to display those qualities of conscience and of righteousness which carry conviction of his honesty and capacity.
A recital of his financial positions will serve to show the scope of his business activity: He is president of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co., president of the Pacific Mutual Indemnity Co., director of the Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank, director of the Southern California Edison Co., director of the Broadway Bank & Trust Co., director of the Anglo-California Trust Co. of San Francisco, president of the Rosedale Cemetery Association of Los Angeles, director of the Rindge Land & Navigating Co., president of the Holland Land & Water Co., director of the Empire Navigation Co., president of the Southern California Cremation Society, director of the Seaside Water Co., vice president of the Maclay Rancho Water Co., and interested as investor in a myriad of other enterprises.
But a formal recital of the positions attained by Mr. Cochran make a faint reflection of his potency and activity in business affairs.
As president of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co., Mr. Cochran finds himself the executive of one of the great insurance associations of the country; one that originated in the West, but which has been conducted with such acumen and wisdom as to have become one of the foremost financial institutions of the country. His life insurance company carries over $20,000,000 of investments, supervised and directed by him; when added to this duty are the immense details of his other enterprises, the fact that he is able to conduct all of this business without the ostentation of exclusiveness that surrounds most great financiers, and that he has maintained a simplicity and directness of method which marked his earlier years, the steadfastness and reliability of the man become apparent. He was a member of the Los Angeles City Charter Commission in 1893, is a trustee of the State Normal School at Los Angeles, is a member of the Republican County Central Committee; he is a trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association, and trustee and treasurer of the University of So. California.
He belongs to the California, Jonathan, University, Los Angeles Athletic, Los Angeles Country and Union League clubs, and Federation of Clubs of Los Angeles; also the Pacific Union and the Bohemian clubs of San Francisco.
Transcribed 7-19-08 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 113, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
COCHRAN, GEORGE IRA, President of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, attorney and financier, Los Angeles, Cal., was born in Oshawa, Province of Ontario, Canada, on July 1, 1863, son of Rev. George Cochran, D.D., and Catherine Lynch (Davidson) Cochran. Mr. Cochran has been twice married. His first wife was Alice Maud McClung, whom he wedded in Canada on August 6, 1890; his second wife was a sister of the first, Isabelle May McClung, and was married to Mr. Cochran in Los Angeles on April 3, 1907.
His education was had in private schools in Tokyo, Japan; Collegiate Institute, Toronto, and the University of Toronto; he was admitted as barrister-at-law at Osgood Hall, Toronto, shortly after graduation, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of California in February, 1888, the year of his arrival in Los Angeles, where he has since made his home and the scene of his busy career.
His primary occupation of the practice of law, combined with long and studious visits to Europe and the Orient, served to prepare his mind and develop his mentality for the tasks which they were to undertake; qualities which were further strengthened by an inheritance of strong character and rectitude from his forbears; his father was a most prominent religious factor in Toronto, and his mother was a descendant of the Wesleys, the founders of the Methodist Church; it is thus an atavistic trait of Mr. Cochran to display those qualities of conscience and of righteousness which carry conviction of his honesty and capacity.
A recital of his financial positions will serve to show the scope of his business activity: He is president of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co., president of the Pacific Mutual Indemnity Co., director of the Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank, director of the Southern California Edison Co., director of the Broadway Bank & Trust Co., director of the Anglo-California Trust Co. of San Francisco, president of the Rosedale Cemetery Association of Los Angeles, director of the Rindge Land & Navigating Co., president of the Holland Land & Water Co., director of the Empire Navigation Co., president of the Southern California Cremation Society, director of the Seaside Water Co., vice president of the Maclay Rancho Water Co., and interested as investor in a myriad of other enterprises.
But a formal recital of the positions attained by Mr. Cochran make a faint reflection of his potency and activity in business affairs.
As president of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co., Mr. Cochran finds himself the executive of one of the great insurance associations of the country; one that originated in the West, but which has been conducted with such acumen and wisdom as to have become one of the foremost financial institutions of the country. His life insurance company carries over $20,000,000 of investments, supervised and directed by him; when added to this duty are the immense details of his other enterprises, the fact that he is able to conduct all of this business without the ostentation of exclusiveness that surrounds most great financiers, and that he has maintained a simplicity and directness of method which marked his earlier years, the steadfastness and reliability of the man become apparent. He was a member of the Los Angeles City Charter Commission in 1893, is a trustee of the State Normal School at Los Angeles, is a member of the Republican County Central Committee; he is a trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association, and trustee and treasurer of the University of So. California.
He belongs to the California, Jonathan, University, Los Angeles Athletic, Los Angeles Country and Union League clubs, and Federation of Clubs of Los Angeles; also the Pacific Union and the Bohemian clubs of San Francisco.
Transcribed 7-19-08 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 113, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
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