Industry leaders pay tribute to Dick Griffin, supplements insurance innovator

Dick, who passed away in late December, formed an exclusive agreement with the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) in 1996 to provide products liability insurance to the U.S. dietary supplement and natural products industry, and soon thereafter extended the program to work with several other organizations that represent these trades.

“Dick’s concept from the outset was that collaboration between the insurance industry and the businesses it serves will produce the greatest benefit for all,”​ said AHPA President Michael McGuffin. “Aside from taking care of his customers by making affordable coverage broadly available, the program he created 25 years ago has returned hundreds of thousands of dollars to the trade groups with whom he worked.”​

Dick also led efforts over a decade ago to provide insurance coverage for California Proposition 65 claims, and he was among the first to take seriously the insurance needs of the cannabis and hemp businesses that have emerged in the last several years.

His contributions to the industry have been recognized by industry associations: In 2015, AHPA awarded Dick its annual “AHPA Herbal Hero Award” in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the dietary supplement and natural products industry. In 2018, the American Botanical Council (ABC) named Dick as the recipient of its “ABC Champion Award” for 2017 for his work in consistently serving ABC and other organizations in the natural products community.

In a notification to its membership, AHPA stated: “[Dick’s] professional accomplishments and acknowledgements were many, but for those of us who knew him, it was Dick’s generosity that will be most remembered.”​

Mark Blumenthal, ABC’s founder and executive director, told us: “One of the many rewards we receive from being in the herb and natural products industries and extended communities is the enduring friendships we develop with good-hearted and people. Knowing Dick Griffin is an example of this. ​

“Dick was a truly decent, humble, loving, caring, and deeply generous man. He was a pioneer in the field of providing liability insurance for companies in the herb and dietary supplement industry. He was convinced of the relative safety and general beneficial value of herb and DS products, as confirmed by insurance industry claims data, and he convinced industry members that by collectively insuring via his underwriting, they would derive great benefit via lower premium rates.​

“I genuinely appreciate the lunches and dinners I had with Dick over the years at various industry and scientific conferences; sometimes we’d sneak off somewhere, just the two of us, and talk about whatever came to mind – often, of course, about people and issues in the industry – and often about life in general. To acknowledge Dick’s strong generosity to the American Botanical Council, in 2018 we bestowed upon him the ABC Champion Award for 2017. (Because of the stroke he suffered, his daughters came to the ABC Celebration at Expo West in Anaheim to accept the award on his behalf.) ​

“Over the last four years since his unfortunate stroke and his inability to communicate directly with his many friends and colleagues, I’ve spoken with his wife Rosemary on his birthday, and I’m grateful that she relayed my messages of love and appreciation to him. ​

“I will always remember his gentleness and kindness, his respect for others, and seemingly bottomless generosity. And, every year, on his birthday, and again on Dec 29 (the anniversary of his passing), I will remember Dick with profound gratitude, and drink a glass of rich California red wine in his honor!”​

Dick is survived by his wife Rose Marie (Kalan) Griffin; daughters Rene (Kim) and Nicole; sons-in-law Henry Kim and Brian Yeh; and grandsons Harrison Kim, Kennedy Kim, Nate Griffin-Yeh and Anthony Griffin-Yeh.

In lieu of flowers, the Griffin family requests donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital​.