Carrying on the work of a father

Richard Tedesco

For Ray Haller, his life work as partner in the Haller-Zaremba Insurance Agency in Williston Park is a passion that continues the work of his father.

“I took it to heart. If you’re going to do something right, you have to go all the way,” said Haller, who was born in Williston Park and started working with his father in the business in 1989.

The agency, which is observing its 75th anniversary this year, was begun by Ray’s great uncle, Peter Haller, as The Haller Agency in Ridgewood, Queens in 1938. 

His grandfather, Nicholas, joined the agency in 1952. When he died four years later, Ray’s father, Nicholas Haller Jr. took his place at the agency after finishing his U.S. Army service.

His father eventually took over running the agency and moved its offices to Williston Park in 1978. 

Ray graduated from St. John’s University with a bachelors degree in marketing and got into the hotel business, working for Leona Helmsley for five years and then as assistant controller at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan for seven years. 

He thought he would stay in the hospitality business but Hyatt Hotels wanted him to relocate to the West Coast, and he changed careers instead.

“I didn’t want to uproot my family,” Haller recalled. “I made the decision that I was going to join my dad. He was happy to have me and I was happy to join him.”

His wife, Lisa, had just given birth to their daughter, Jenny, and he went to school at Queens College at night to become certified as an insurance agent. He said he quickly learned the business at what was the beginning of computers playing a significant role in the business, and assumed a lead role in the agency as that transition progressed.

“Things got more computerized and my dad took a back seat,” he said.

As soon as he joined his father in the business, he said he knew it would be his life’s work.

He eventually bought the business from his father in 1992, although his father remained active in the business at 328 Hillside Ave. His father died at age 83 in January this year.

“I love my dad. I miss my dad,” Haller said.

As the business grew, Haller took on his partner, Kevin Zaremba in June 1996.

He said the insurance business has now become “totally computerized” and bears little resemblance to the business in his father’s day when insurance brokers closed deals with a handshake.

The number of “players” in the industry – both companies and agencies – has mushroomed, he said, with increasing interaction between them.

“We all help each other as much as we can,” he said.

The range of insurance products has also multiplied, from the life, health, automobile and home insurance lines to other lines including wedding and travel insurance.

The Haller-Zaremba Agency sells a board range of products, he said, and Haller most enjoys his interaction with people in the course of his work.

“I enjoy people. I enjoy talking to my clients, meeting new people and helping them with their problems,” he said. “We actually take time to listen to people and help them out with their problems.”

When Hurricane Sandy struck, Haller said the agency did all it could to help out clients in need in Wantaugh, Massapequa, Lyndenhurst and Breezy Point while the power was out in Williston Park.

“We went to coffee shops. We went anywhere there was electric, and we filed our claims,” he said. “A good portion were flood-related. That went on for weeks.”

Haller said Haller-Zaremba has customers from Manhattan to Montauk, including some fourth-generation clients of families who’ve continued doing business with the agency. Haller said he help clients “physically and financially” wherever he can. And he said he continues a practice his father made of taking time to help people out who aren’t even agency clients.

“People come in for advice and we don’t even handle their insurance,” he said. “We try to give back to the community whenever we can.”

Haller is an active member of the Williston Park Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce of the Willistons. He is also active in the Knights of Columbus in Bethpage.

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