In Memory of Ardian Courtland Gill

Ardian Courtland Gill, age 92, died peacefully at home in Litchfield, Connecticut, on January 12. An actuary, photographer and author, he was born to Lewis and Sarah Gill on October 9, 1929, the youngest of nine children on a Depression-era farm in Griswold, an eastern Connecticut mill town.

A 1951 honors graduate in mathematics at the University of Connecticut, Ardian was intrigued by the elegance of mathematics and the eloquence of language. He took to heart his father’s advice to work with his head and began his career with Travelers Insurance in Hartford.

He went on to distinguish himself professionally: SVP and chief actuary at Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York (MONY); partner at Tillinghast Nelson & Warren, consultants; and chairman and CEO of Gill & Roeser, a major reinsurance brokerage. In all, Ardian mastered more than two dozen personal and professional roles in his lifetime. He believed strongly that one had an obligation to give back to one’s profession and community. He served as board member and vice president of the Society of Actuaries, board member of the American Academy of Actuaries, president of the New York Actuaries Club and trustee of the Village of Saltaire. At UConn, Ardian established a scholarship for the underprivileged and endowed two annual prizes for art and photography.

Ardian’s artistic eye, humanity and compassion concentrated his photography on street portraits and nature photography, which appeared in Aperture, Nature and The New York Times; his work, shot around the world from Uganda to China to Antarctica, is in the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Museum and has been exhibited at other venues. He authored The River is Mine, a novel about John Wesley Powell's 1869 exploration of the Colorado River, and The Blue Moose, an illustrated children’s book based on tales he spun for his own children. He wrote book reviews for Contingencies Magazine and contributed to the opinion page of The Wall Street Journal.

As fierce and rigorous as his intellect was professionally, it also fueled his humor.  With his whimsy, playfulness and love of language, he led many down the path to sometimes groan-producing wordplay in person and in print. Readers of The Actuary enjoyed the “Clara-Who?” contest he edited, a celebration of the clerihew, a whimsical, four-line, biographical poem. His punchline timing was impeccable. This New York finance executive personified prestige, authority and self-confidence. His charm was legendary, as was his wit, his erudition and his ability to recite classical multi-stanza poems and bawdy sea chanties in the wink of his startlingly blue eye.

Ardian is survived by Anna Hannon Gill, his wife and companion of 43 years; by his children, Tracy Gill and her husband Simeon Lagodich; Claudia Gill; and John Freeman Gill and his wife Julina Tatlock; and by four grandchildren, Lucie, Arden, Aster and Declan.

Memorials will be held in New York and Connecticut when it is safe to gather. Donations in his memory may be made to Students Conservation Association, Heifer International, and Litchfield Land Trust.