In Memoriam

Anne Fielding

Anne Clara Fielding died on October 16, 2018. She was born in Basel, Switzerland, on May 10, 1926. After attending school in Switzerland, she worked, during WWII, for the Sandoz Pharmaceutical Company. She arrived in the United States on January 1, 1947.

Ann, as she was known at work, devoted more than 40 years to New York Life Insurance Company (NYL) and The World Bank Group (the Bank). She began working for NYL in 1956 as a clerk typist in the Washington claims office. With her linguistic skills, she was asked by the claims unit to translate physicians and hospital/clinic invoices and do currency conversions for overseas claims on Bank’s Major Medical Plan. (The Bank had its Base Plan insured by Blue Cross/Blue Shield, with the Major Medical and Group Life Insurance plans insured by NYL with policy number G-1.). In 1970 Messrs. Lou Michaels (Chief) and Phil Dahlberg (Insurance Officer) approached NYL with the proposal for NYL to insure the Base Plan with the proviso that Mrs. Fielding be assigned to process claims on the Bank’s premises. While hesitant at first, NYL was primarily a life insurance company with limited individual medical insurance, they eventually relented and opened the dedicated claims office at the Bank.

Ann was an extremely hard and dependable employee. She consumed work voraciously. She would take extra work home on weekends to be ready for data entry on Monday morning. The work day was all business, except for the need to accommodate social niceties with staff who would come to the office to discuss their claims. This also set a tone for the rest of the claims office staff. Efficiency, accuracy, and courtesy were hallmarks of the claims office. In her later years, as she had developed an excellent reputation as a helpful and kind expert, she would answer questions about possible medical providers. She recalls one staff member with a heart condition, who followed her suggestion, had surgery and enjoyed a long pension with thanks.

Ann also enjoyed the interaction with staff…up to a limit. She would explain what the coverage was, how the benefits were calculated, what the exclusions were and how reasonable and customary was determined. She would caution staff on some providers who seemed to know the plan’s benefit calculations better than the Claims Analysts. Her title was Claims Supervisor. But on at least 2 occasions she was offered the promotion to be Claims Manager, which she declined. She preferred dealing with staff and claims. Helping people, doing the whole job from beginning to end, was her most cherished mission in life.

Following her retirement from NYL in 1997, she was quickly hired into the Bank’s Human Resources Department as an administrative assistant. She learned new skills and enjoyed the daily interaction with staff. She would also attend the annual meeting of the German Speaking Chapter of The 1818 Society, sometimes travelling to Europe with the next Chapter meeting as the main purpose.

Ann Fielding was an understated treasure to the Bank and its staff, retirees and dependents. She will be missed.

Submitted by Richard Eddy.