It is with great sadness that we have to report that our colleague John Ferrie died on March 22nd aged 73.

John had worked for Thomas Miller Americas (TMA) San Francisco from 1986 through to 2002.

He worked for several US shipping companies during his long career and was an expert on bodily injury claims. John joined TMA SF at the outset of our west coast operation and together with Joe Pascucci formed a very effective claims team.

John's experience and commitment was a huge asset to TMA and the UK Club members who benefited considerably from his full understanding of the issues and dynamics of handling serious injury claims in USA. John was the first leader of TMA's Bodily Injury Team and participated in several of the very successful UK Club Cruise Conferences run by Phil Nichols.

John's other passion in life was baseball. He was an ardent New York Yankees fan and many of us (particularly those of us not brought up on the sport) grew to enjoy baseball largely thanks to John's enthusiasm and willingness to explain to the uninitiated what was going on .

John moved back to the New York area from San Francisco when he retired in 2002 to watch his beloved Yankees and return to his roots.