Maritime Life

The Maritime Life Assurance Company was a Canadian insurance company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was founded in 1922 and in 2004 it became fully integrated with Manulife Financial, with the Maritime Life brand being retired. In 2004 it had 2700 employees.

The Maritime Life headquarters was located in Armdale, Nova Scotia (part of Halifax) near the head of the Northwest Arm. After the merger with Manulife Financial, the signage of the building was changed accordingly and the facility became Manulife's central Halifax office.

History

Maritime Life was co-founded in 1922 by 9 residents of Nova Scotia. At the time of its founding, the company ranked 58th out of 60 insurance companies in Canada.

One of the company's founders was The Hon. William Anderson Black, who was later was elected as the member of Parliament for Halifax, from 1923 until his death in 1934. Incidentally, the last president of Maritime Life, prior to the amalgamation with Manulife Financial, was his great-grandson William "Bill" Black. In his grandfather's tradition, Bill Black ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia, but lost to Rodney MacDonald. His election bid for MLA, in the Halifax Citadel riding in 2006, was also unsuccessful.