By Elaine Rose
Three things seem to be embedded in Tim Glenn’s DNA: insurance, community service, and a love of nature. His passion for turtles, as heard on the company’s radio commercials, is definitely not an advertising gimmick.
Thomas L. “Tim” Glenn III, is the fourth-generation to run Glenn Insurance, Inc., located by the bay on the White Horse Pike in Absecon. His father’s side of the family has called Atlantic County home for more than two centuries.
Thomas L. Glenn Sr. founded the insurance agency in Atlantic City in 1927. He had been accepted to Harvard Law School but turned down admission to take care of his ailing mother, Glenn said. He worked for the motor-vehicle agency, and friends urged him to start selling insurance. The company later acquired the Phillips Company, an agency founded by relatives in 1879. His great-grandfather, Lewis Glenn, joined the agency during the Great Depression. And Tim Glenn is more than happy to show off hand-written minutes of Phillips Company board meetings dating back to 1899.
Top left, Tim Glenn holds an osprey, photo by Susan Allen; top right, Tim with his wife Kim and 3 children, Kelly, Melissa, and Tommy, along with their dog, photo by Eric Weeks; bottom pics are osprey in Absecon, photo by Susan Allen.
The agency moved to Northfield, and to its current location – a former fish market – in the mid-1980s and employs 49 people. Worker turnover is low, and some have been with the company since Glenn came to work there in 1987.
As a youth, Tim Glenn did not work in the family business. He held several odd jobs around the county, including as a golf caddy at Seaview. His sister, Kerri, worked summers for the company, but later married and became a stay-at-home mom of four. After graduating Colgate University – his father’s and grandfather’s alma mater – in 1986, Glenn went to work for another insurance company.
“I didn’t want to just walk in as the owner’s son,” he said. But he joined Glenn Insurance soon enough, as he was part of a merger deal. Glenn said he acquired his values from his parents, who from an early age taught him the value of good manners and proper ethics.
“You build your character and reputation through a lifetime,” and one mishap can send the entire thing crumbling down, he said. Once he came into the family business, his father had him sit in on important conversations, so that he would know how to handle sensitive situations with empathy. He became company co-chairman with his uncle in 2001 and president in 2005.
Giving back to the community has always been a mainstay of Glenn Insurance.
“We have the privilege of having a successful business, so we have the privilege of giving back,” Glenn said.
Glenn Insurance supports more than 200 charitable organizations, mostly in Atlantic County. Sister Jean’s Kitchen in Atlantic City and Absecon’s Field of Dreams for children with disabilities are among the favorites. Various awards for community service are scattered on walls around the company. His mother, Anne-Marie Glenn, was recently honored by the United Way for her service.
Employees are encouraged to donate their time and money. For a $5 contribution to a chosen charity, workers can come to the office in blue jeans on casual Fridays. Employees often pitch in on company giveback projects and can get paid time off to volunteer for their own favorite causes, Glenn said.
But it is conservation – especially saving diamondback terrapin turtles - that is Glenn’s real passion. It started when he came to work at the Absecon property, and saw the landscaper collect baby terrapins found on the lawn, and he helped release them to a safe spot, Glenn said.
Later, as a member of the golf committee at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, Glenn met Roger Wood, a biologist who began a head-start program for orphaned terrapins. Wood’s team would collect female turtles killed in traffic and dissect them to remove the eggs, which were then incubated, hatched, and reared until they were ready to be released. Glenn raised some baby terrapins in his home before he got married. (Now he brings the rescues to Stockton University.) The hatchlings were tagged, and recently the Wetlands Institute found a terrapin it saved nineteen years ago.
Glenn still rescues terrapins on the company property. He has been known to descend into the storm drain to capture baby turtles and give them another chance at life. Helping the Conserve Wildlife Foundation build osprey nests in Absecon Bay is another pet project.
This love of nature and desire to conserve it are an integral part of his family life.
When he was a senior in college, Glenn’s parents bought a 42-acre property off Route 9 in Galloway Township. The first time he visited, he spotted a buck, a red-tailed hawk, and a fox, and was instantly hooked. His parents later bought a neighboring property to save it from developers. When they moved away, they donated the land to Green Acres.
Now 56, Glenn lives on Patcong Creek in Linwood with his wife, veterinarian Kim Bailey Glenn, children Kelly, Melissa, and Tommy, three cats, and two dogs. Their backyard is certified as a wildlife habitat.
“We see bald eagles almost every single day,” he said. “That never gets old, seeing a bald eagle flying around.”
The family bought the wooded lot next door to preserve its natural state. At sunset, they often go among the trees and listen to the songbirds.
As to whether his children will continue running Glenn Insurance for a fifth generation, that remains to be seen. Kelly – who of course, attends Colgate – is interested in becoming a speech therapist. Melissa and Tommy are still too young to make up their minds.
“It would be cool if one of the kids wants to take over,” he said.
