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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
Harvey Ryland, former president and CEO of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, has died after a brief battle with cancer.
Mr. Ryland, 74, passed away Sunday in Tampa, Fla. He had a 30-year career in emergency management, including 12 years leading the Tampa-based IBHS, from which he retired in 2007.
Before joining IBHS, Mr. Ryland was deputy director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he worked closely with then-FEMA Director James Lee Witt to develop U.S. emergency management strategies that focused on reducing losses through risk mitigation.
Mr. Ryland also had been executive director of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium; founded a company specializing in solutions for operational and management problems, primarily for federal and local governments; worked on the Panama Canal Treaty; and was project engineer for the Incident Command System, a multiagency operational emergency cooperation system.
He also was a senior research fellow at the Risk Management & Decision Processes Center at the Wharton School of the University of Philadelphia.
“During his tenure at IBHS, he created a variety of partnerships to educate home and business owners about effective loss mitigation techniques,” Julie Rochman, president and CEO of IBHS, said in a statement. “His legacy can be seen in communities across the country where those messages were taken to heart, so that citizens are better prepared to deal with the worst Mother Nature throws at them.”
In lieu of flowers, Mr. Ryland’s family requests donations be made in his name to Life Path Hospice, 12973 N. Telecom Parkway, Suite 100, Temple Terrace, Fla. 33637; and Hyde Park United Methodist Church, 500 W. Platt St., Tampa, Fla. 33606.
A memorial service will be held for Mr. Ryland at 11 a.m. Saturday at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa.