When Robert Benmosche announced he would be retiring as chief executive officer of American International Group (
AIG) this year, it was assumed he did so due to a 2010 cancer diagnosis and the desire to spend more time with his family.
This week, Benmosche revealed in an interview with Bloomberg Television that there was more behind his decision.
In May, the AIG chief learned he had just nine months to a year to live.
“I said, ‘You know what, I’m not going to play the odds,’” Benmosche told Bloomberg’s Betty Liu. “So let’s accelerate my retirement. And the board was happy to do that.”
Benmosche has undergone tough and even experimental treatments since his diagnosis in 2010, which he revealed was the first time he was told he had no more than a year to live. One treatment worked for three years before failing to be effective, forcing doctors to take another route.
Originally planning to retire in 2012, he reversed his decision to oversee the divestiture of Hong Kong life insurer AIA Group and continue to fine-tune the company’s focus to property-casualty insurance. Today, Benmosche has managed to repay AIG’s $182.3 billion debt to the US Government after it was bailed out following the 2008 financial crisis.
He credits the decision to stay to advice from his mother.
“[She] told me, ‘Don’t wait too long,’ and I’m glad I didn’t want too long,” Benmosche said during the interview. “She said, ‘Live your life when you’re healthy enough to live it.’”
Currently, doctors say Benmosche is stable. He adds that, “I’ll know in another month or two whether we’re making good progress.”
Peter Hancock, who heads the property-casualty unit at AIG, is set to take over as CEO on Sept. 1.
