Background
John Hegeman was born on April 18, 1844, in New York City, New York, United States, the son of John G. and Charlotte Owen Rogers Hegeman.
John Hegeman was born on April 18, 1844, in New York City, New York, United States, the son of John G. and Charlotte Owen Rogers Hegeman.
John's early education in public schools near his birthplace, Flatlands, now a part of New York City, was followed by study at a private school at Poughquag, Dutchess County, and a year at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.
John Hegeman's progress in the business world was rapid, for within four years, 1866-1870, he rose from book-keeper in the Bank of the Republic of New York City, to accountant and later secretary to the board of directors of the Manhattan Life Insurance Company. In June 1870 he became secretary of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and on October 25 of the same year he was elected vice-president, an office which he held for twenty years, succeeding Joseph Fairchild Knapp to the presidency in 1891.
In its early days the Metropolitan carried on its life insurance business through the Bund, an organization made up of lodges witn members who paid weekly premiums.
Financial troubles in 1873 slowed down the ordinary insurance business, but when industrial insurance was introduced in 1875, Knapp and Hegeman worked out a system of industrial policies which the Metropolitan began writing in 1879 and concentrated upon until 1891. In that year Hegeman became president and Haley Fiske vice-president. Together these men revived the ordinary department, instructing the agents to write both ordinary and industrial policies. This enterprise met with immediate success, as did the practice, begun in 1896, of writing five-hundred-dollar policies for persons between those paying weekly premiums and those holding policies of a thousand dollars or more. Hegeman was particularly interested in the liberalization of policy provisions, and in health and welfare work.
The Armstrong investigation of life insurance companies by the New York State legislature in 1905 brought about a limitation of the amount of ordinary business the company could write, but no restrictions were made regarding industrial insurance. As a result of the Armstrong investigation Hegeman himself was indicted in May 1907 on ten counts seven of forgery and three of perjury. He was charged with having altered items in the annual reports of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company submitted to the state life insurance commissioner. Although the fact that the alterations had been made was admitted, Judge Dowling of the New York supreme court dismissed the forgery indictments in 1907 on the ground that no intent to defraud was proved. The perjury indictments were allowed to stand but were dismissed in June 1910 by Judge Davis for the same reasons given by Judge Dowling.
Aside from his interest in insurance, Hegeman was a trustee of the Hamilton Trust Company and of the Union Dime Savings Bank, and a director of the Metropolitan Bank & National Surety Company. His health during his last years prevented Hegeman from actively carrying on his duties as president of the insurance company. After his wife’s death in 1914 he traveled, especially the Orient. He bequeathed funds for a tuberculosis research laboratory which was completed at Mount McGregor, New York, in 1923 and is known as the John Rogers Hegeman Memorial.
John Hegeman and his wife were active Baptists, having a special interest in the Salem Baptist Church of New Rochelle, New York, which they helped to build.
John Hegeman was married to Evelyn Lyon of Brooklyn.