Description: David Garrick Halmstad died in February of this year at the age of thirty-nine. The loss of one who had contributed so much to our profession in his brief span and whose promise for the future was even greater has moved a number of David's friends to attempt to extend the significance of his life beyond its untimely end. It is proposed to accomplish this by the annual award of a prize bearing his name as a memorial.

Description: Full version of The Actuary Newsletter Volume 11, Number 3 - March 1977

Description: This article is a summary and analysis of the 1977 Annual Reports of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds, of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund. The author notes that an excellent introduction to these reports may be obtained by reading the Commentary Prepared to Assist in the Reading and Interpretation of the Reports, prepared by A. Haeworth Robertson, Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration. Note: A more extensive review of the Reports will appear in the Transactions.

Description: This article describes the activities and results of an SOA Task Force on Expansion of Mortality and Morbidity Statistics which was formed to review the mortality and morbidity research undertaken and the statistics published outside the recognized actuarial organizations.

Description: This article describes activities of the Board of Governors to strengthen the role of research within the SOA. The Board actions include approving two additional professional staff positions for the Research Department and including $150,000 in a Research Development Fund to serve as seed money for research projects.

Description: The actuarial profession was singled out for an unexpected distinction last month when The Jobs Rated Almanac announced that actuaries have the best jobs in the U.S. The book, published by World Almanac, was launched with so much fanfare that actuaries were in the front-page headlines of such newspapers as USA Today and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Description: FASB's Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 97 contains wide-sweeping changes to the preparation of GAAP financials for insurance companies. The focus of this article will be on the ramifications of the interest rate FASB has decided to use to amortize deferred acquisition costs.

Description: Announcement of SOA office move

Description: This article describes opportunities and challenges presented to Corporate Actuaries caused by swings in investment gains and losses, the cyclical nature of health insurance results, and increased investments in affiliates which divert use of surplus increase from organic growth to acquisitions. margins were much higher

Description: This Is a book review of 'Lebensversicherungsmathematik' by Hans U. Gerber. The book, written in German, is directed to younger readers who take pleasure in applied mathematics and who wish an introduction to life insurance mathematics. A well-organized and elegant introduction awaits their reading.