MICHAEL J. POULOS
1931-2018
Michael J. Poulos passed away in Houston on Friday, the 16th of November 2018. He was 87 years of age.
He was born on the 13th of February 1931, and was one of three children - an older brother Tony and a younger sister Stella. His parents, James and Sprango Poulos were born in Greece, immigrated to the United States in 1927 and became U.S. citizens shortly thereafter. Their home was in Hudson Falls, a small village in upstate New York - 200 miles north of New York City.
The Poulos family was very proud of their Greek heritage and as was customary with many Greek immigrants, their children attended Greek school in addition to English school on a daily basis. Therefore, Michael as well as his brother and sister became bilingual.
The Poulos family was financially poor, but rich in ethics, morals, and principles. Michael worked from the time he was 15, and still managed to maintain a perfect “A” average during his four years of high school.
Michael graduated with highest honors from Hudson Falls High School in 1949. He attended and graduated from Colgate University in 1953. He received a scholarship for his tuition and had a job on campus that earned him his room and board. In 1949 when he first went to Colgate he literally borrowed a suitcase and hitchhiked the 200 miles from Hudson Falls, New York to Hamilton, New York where Colgate University is located.
Shortly after graduating from Colgate in 1953 he entered the restaurant business with his soon to be fatherin-law, Nicolas Kefalas. He married is college roommate’s sister, Bessie Kefalas in 1954.
He stayed in the restaurant business for five years and in 1958 he joined the United States Life Insurance Company in New York City as a management trainee. During this time he also attended graduate school and received his MBA from New York University in 1963.
His career with the United States Life Insurance Company spanned 13 years and included positions in sales, finance, and administration. In 1970, he moved with his family to Sacramento, California where he joined California - Western States Life Insurance Company as Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. In 1975 he was elected President and CEO of that company and served in that capacity until 1980 when Houston-based American General Corporation acquired Cal-Western. Mr. Poulos and his family moved to Houston in 1980 where he assumed an executive position at corporate headquarters. He served as President of American General Corporation from 1981 to 1991 and Vice Chairman from 1991 until his retirement in 1993. He served as a Director of American General Corporation from 1980 to 1993 and again from 1998 to 2001.
Following his retirement from American General in 1993 he joined Western National Corporation - a small Texas life insurance company - as Chairman, President, and CEO. In 1994, he took the company public and in a span of four years Western National became the number one company in the United States in the sale of annuities through financial institutions. In 1998 American General purchased Western National and Mr. Poulos again rejoined the American General Board of Directors.
In 2004 Michael Poulos and a small group of insurance executives purchased the Forethought Life Insurance Company in Batesville, Indiana. Michael served as Chairman of the Board and lead director for several years and that company became a major underwriter of life insurance and annuities nationwide. In 2014, the company was sold in an all cash transaction to Global Atlantic Financial Group in New York City, thus ending Mr. Poulos’ 56-year career in the life insurance business.
During those 56 years, Mr. Poulos served on a number of corporate boards including: USLIFE Corp.; California Western States Life Insurance Company; American General Corporation; Forethought Financial Group Inc.; Technical Olympic USA; and Century Shares Trust in Boston.
He served as a director/ trustee of several non-profit organizations, including Colgate University, Sam Houston Council Boy Scouts of America, Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, and the Texas Heart Institute Foundation Board. He also served as a Director of the Texas Association of Life Insurance Companies; and the Association of Life Insurance Companies in California. Industry and professional memberships included The American Society of CLU; The National Association of Life Underwriters; Beta Gamma Sigma; and life member of Delta Sigma Phi.
Michael Poulos was married to the former Bessie Kefalas from 1954 until her death in 1982. They had two children: Denise V. Poulos, currently of Houston; and Peter J. Poulos, who died in 2001.
In 1984, he married the former Mary Kay Leslie, who has two adult children, Vicki Lynn and Carol Buckner. Michael and Mary Kay together have eight grandchildren, Michael James Poulos II, Megan Poulos, Taylor Poulos, Petra Poulos, Hutch Hagendorf, Haley Hagendorf, Madison Buckner, Kelly Buckner; and three great grandchildren, Michael James Poulos III, Nicholas James Poulos, and Matthew Peter Poulos.
Mr. Poulos co-founded and served as president of the Michael J. and Mary K. Poulos Foundation, which was formed in 1995. It has supported many charitable and non-profit organizations, including Colgate University, where Mr. Poulos’ contributions established a scholarship endowment fund for financially needy students. Hundreds of students have been able to attend and graduate from Colgate University with financial assistance from the Michael J. Poulos Endowment Fund, which was first established in 1993.
Mr. Poulos received many citations and honors during his lifetime, including membership in the very prestigious James B. Colgate Society at Colgate University; and in 2013 he received the “Wm. Brian Little Alumni Award for Distinguished Service” - the highest honor awarded to Colgate alumni.
Mr. Poulos was a member of the River Oaks Country Club in Houston; and the University Club in New York City.
Friends are cordially invited to share remembrances of Mr. Poulos during a visitation to be held from five o’clock in the afternoon until half-past seven o’clock in the evening on Monday, the 26th of November, in the Jasek Chapel an grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston, where the Trisagion Prayers will immediately follow in the Jasek Chapel.
The funeral service is to be conducted at half-past ten o’clock in the morning on Tuesday, the 27th of November, at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 3511 Yoakum Boulevard in Houston.
Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a Makaria luncheon at a venue to be announced during the service.
At a later date, the family will gather for a private interment at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.
In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in Mr. Poulos’ name be directed to the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral Expansion Program, 3511 Yoakum Blvd, Houston, TX, 77006.