Wikipedia
USF&G was an American insurance company which existed from 1896 until 1998. Originally called United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, the Baltimore, Maryland-based company was organized on March 19, 1896, and commenced business on August 1, 1896. John Randolph Bland was the company's principal founder.
In 1970, it built the 37-story, pink granite-clad USF&G Building in Baltimore's Inner Harbor area. The building helped spark economic redevelopment in the area, and continues to be a Baltimore landmark. The USF&G Building remains (as of 2009) Baltimore's tallest building, Maryland's tallest building, and the tallest building between Raleigh, North Carolina, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The insurer formed a holding company for its insurance businesses and changed its name to USF&G in July 1981. It rapidly diversified its businesses, but encountered significant financial difficulties in most of them throughout the 1980s. By 1990, the company was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. That year, Norman Blake was brought in as chief executive officer, and Blake quickly shed business units, fired most of the top management, and refocused the company on its core insurance business so that by 1992 USF&G was once more highly profitable.
USF&G was acquired by the Saint Paul Companies in January 1998 for $2.8 billion. Although the name continues to be used, the company effectively ceased to exist at that time.