Horace G. Rhodes

(1927 - 2013) Chairman of the Board

A lifelong Oklahoma resident and partner in the firm for forty years, Mr. Rhodes was born in Oklahoma City in 1927 and graduated from New Mexico Military Institute (1945) and the University of Oklahoma (B.S. 1950; L.L.B. 1955). He served three tours of duty between 1945 and 1953 in the United States Army Air Corps and subsequently in the United States Air Force. From 1955 through 1958, he was General Counsel and Deputy Insurance Commissioner of the State of Oklahoma, acting as Counsel for Special Joint Legislative Committee to Recodify Oklahoma’s Insurance Code, 1955-1957 and had significant responsibility in drafting the state’s first modern comprehensive insurance code, Title 36 of the Oklahoma Statutes, still the basis for Oklahoma’s insurance laws.

After an eight year stint as President of United Founders Life Insurance Company and several years as a consultant in the field of insurer mergers and acquisitions, Mr. Rhodes joined the firm in 1973. He practiced primarily in the insurance regulatory area.  He served for many years as General Counsel to both the Oklahoma Life and Health Guaranty Association and the Association of Oklahoma Life Insurance Companies. In addition, he acted as the chief lobbyist for Oklahoma’s domestic life insurers for almost three decades.  A fluent Spanish speaker and longtime member of the InterAmerican Bar Association with a lifetime love of Mexico, he also acted as a consultant for the Oklahoma Governor’s Office on Latin American affairs. Mr. Rhodes, who passed away in 2013, was a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association for sixty-three years.