In Memoriam Edward L. Robbins, Jan. 2, 1940 – Dec. 28, 2020
TAXING TIMES, August 2021
As this issue of TAXING TIMES goes to press, the United States has exceeded 600,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19, with over 4,000,000 deaths worldwide. The loss of human life and wellbeing is staggering. Each one of those individuals touched many other lives and contributed to the world in their own ways. One of them in particular touched our close-knit community of tax actuaries and other insurance tax professionals, as we were deeply saddened to hear of Ed Robbins’ passing in late December.
Ed was in many ways a founding father of the tax actuarial specialty, championing it from the start after the 1984 Act changed the federal income tax regime for insurance companies. He had an illustrious career—or perhaps many of them, celebrating no fewer than four retirements! His major roles included being an actuarial principal at KPMG LLP, including leading the firm’s Life Actuarial Practice; executive vice president and chief actuary at Zurich Kemper Life Insurance Companies; senior actuary at Allstate Life Insurance Company; and consulting for SMART LLC, LECG LLC, Ernst & Young LLP, and independently. He was the founding chairperson of the Taxation Section of the Society of Actuaries (SOA), a regular author for TAXING TIMES and presenter at seminars and conferences, and of course he literally wrote the book on tax reserves, coauthoring U.S. Tax Reserves for Life Insurers (SOA, 2006) and its successor volume Tax Basis Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Life Insurers (ACTEX, 2014) with Richard Bush. He remained passionate about tax actuarial topics even into retirement, staying engaged through consulting and industry participation through last year.
Ed was a passionate leader and visionary, and his contributions to the profession extended far beyond the tax specialty. He served as President of the SOA for the 2006-2007 term, as well as serving terms on the Board of Directors of the SOA and on numerous councils and committees. Ed loved to share memories of his time serving as an SOA liaison to the Latin American actuarial organizations, bringing together his enjoyment of the Spanish language and his excitement for developing the actuarial profession. His various professional roles involved well-rounded experience with products, valuation, modeling, capital efficiency and planning, and transactions, and his work demonstrated the value of combining deep specialization with broad perspective.
I worked under Ed’s guidance at EY during his time there, and he was central to my development in tax reserves and corporate tax more broadly. He was a caring and supportive mentor, making sure I had opportunities to learn and use my skills, visit clients at his side, and gain experience and visibility in the profession. I will not forget how genuinely happy he always was to see old friends and colleagues, and how thoughtful and dedicated he was for his clients—as well as frugal with their money, taking us to McDonald’s more than once while traveling to client sites!
Throughout Ed’s decades-long career, he was a devoted husband, a proud father and grandfather, a generous volunteer dedicated to service, and engaged with his communities in many ways. We remember Ed fondly, and with sympathy for his wife, Dian, and their family and friends.
—Kristin Norberg, on behalf of the Editorial Board