Harold Taylor Duryee

Harold Taylor Duryee died Saturday, June 25 at home in German Village in the care of Mt. Carmel Hospice. He had been ill with kidney and heart failure. Known to family and friends as "Hal," he was born February 11, 1930 in Willoughby, OH, the son of the late Gerald Fancher Duryee and Margaret Grace (Taylor) Duryee. He is survived by the love of his life, Phyllis Painter Duryee; brother Gerald Brooks Duryee, Fallbrook, CA; sister Suzanne Duryee, Deland, FL; nephews Taylor Brooks (Kimberly) Duryee, Ft. Bragg, CA and Braden Harper (Maureen) Duryee, La Mesa, CA; great niece Sarah Ann Duryee; sister-in-law Judith (Ralph) Kraus, Zoar, OH; Godson Petar A. (Rachel) Tsvetanov, Lexington, KY; and many cousins. During his life he worked for three Members of the U.S. Congress, three Ohio GOP chairmen, four Ohio Governors and two Presidents. A 1947 graduate of North Canton, OH schools, he was a state champion debater. A graduate of Kenyon College in 1951, he majored in political science and was business manager for the Kenyon Theatre and president of the Archon Society. In politics he volunteered as a Republican precinct committeeman, member of the Stark County Republican executive committee, North Canton city chair, president of the Stark County Young Republican Club and Young Republican State Chairman (1962-63). He was elected vice chairman of the National Young Republican Federation (1963-65). He managed the successful re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Frank T. Bow in 1962. In 1964 he managed the election campaign of U.S. Rep. Oliver P. Bolton for Congress-at-large. The campaign ran 850,000 votes ahead of the presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater, but lost statewide by 150,000 votes. In 1965, he was asked by Republican State Chairman John S. Andrews to work for Clarence J. Brown in a special election for the U.S. House of Representatives (won) and then join state headquarters as legislative and field director. He became executive director of the Ohio Republican state committee in 1970 and served until the end of 1977, working with Andrews and his successors, Kent B. McGough and Earl T. Barnes. In 1978, he was appointed deputy administrator of the OH Bureau of Workers Compensation and served until 1984 under Govs. James A. Rhodes and Richard Celeste. He moved to Washington, DC in 1984 as deputy administrator of the Federal Insurance Administration in FEMA. In 1986, he was appointed Federal Insurance Administrator by Pres. Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He continued his service in the George H.W. Bush presidency for 18 months until his successor was confirmed in 1990. He received a meritorious service award in 1989 and FEMA's Distinguished Civilian Service medal in 1990. He returned to OH in 1991 and was appointed director of the Ohio Department of Insurance by Gov. George V. Voinovich. He served on the Ohio University Insurance Institute Board of Advisors and lectured on insurance and risk management there and at the OSU Fisher School of Business and Franklin University. Hal served as senior advisor to the International Insurance Foundation and consulted on insurance and government relations, working with insurance regulators in emerging markets in Poland, Russia, Bulgaria and Saudi Arabia, as well as an expert witness in the U.S. He fully retired in 2012. He was elected to the Vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church on Capital Square, and was Junior Warden and Senior Warden, for a total of seven years. While Junior Warden, he oversaw a $1 million renovation of the Church building. Hal and Phyllis have been involved with international visitors for forty years and estimate that they have hosted over 200 men and women from abroad, some for a dinner, and others for stays up to four years. With a life-long interest in political science, he was a Fellow of the Academy of Political Science. In 2014, the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, University of Akron, presented him with a leadership award for his "exemplary leadership in carrying out his public service responsibilities." Hal and Phyllis have enjoyed music and managed a concert series in German Village during the late 1960s and early '70s. Columbus Symphony musicians, "Michael Davis and Friends," performed chamber music at four concerts a year. Hal also participated in five productions by Opera Columbus as a "supernumerary." For their nearly fifty years of volunteer service, Hal and Phyllis received the German Village Society Valuable Award in 2014. A memorial service will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church on Capital Square on Saturday, August 6 at 10:00 AM. Family will receive friends before the service and at a reception following to be held in the German Village Meeting Haus on South Third St. The family requests no flowers and suggests instead contributions to the "In the Garden" program at Trinity Church or one's favorite charity. Arrangements entrusted to SCHOEDINGER MIDTOWN CHAPEL.