Remember the old ad campaign, “When E.F. Hutton talks, peoplelisten,” in which a crowded, noisy room would go so quiet you couldhear a pin drop whenever the sponsor's name was mentioned. Therehave never been many people who could silence a room like that inthe insurance business, but Ramani Ayer was one of them.

The iconic chair and CEO at The Hartford already has one footout the door after being pretty much hounded into promising toretire at year's end. That's not a surprise, given the company'srecent financial woes, prompting Mr. Ayer to go hat in hand toUncle Sam for $3.4 billion in bailout money.

But the criticism was relentless, hitting a peak during a May 27shareholders' meeting, where one angry attendee was prominentlymentioned in news reports, accusing Mr. Ayer of running the companyinto the ground and bluntly demanding his resignation.

Mr. Ayer survived this onslaught and was reelected to the board,but the writing was clearly on the wall. It was only a matter oftime before he had to step down, if only to redirect attention tothe beleaguered company's hopefully brighter future, rather thanfocusing on its current troubles.

In short, Mr. Ayer and his colleagues at The Hartford could notafford to be trapped in a blame game, so the top dog had to go.

At least this way, with Mr. Ayer retiring by year's end, theorganization will have breathing room to choose a worthy, capablesuccessor, and perhaps even allow for a quality transition periodto steer The Hartford back on course, while it floats onWashington's temporary life boat.

I would urge the company to take this opportunity to split thechairman and CEO jobs, just like AIG has vowed to do once Ed Liddydeparts. Organizations need the head of the board to keep an eye onthe CEO's day-to-day management, otherwise accountability is sorelylacking.

Shareholders have every reason to be disappointed and angry withThe Hartford's sad state of affairs. Still, I am frankly sad to seeMr. Ayer in this predicament.

Mr. Ayer has been a bold leader for many years–taking the pointon critical issues such as Superfund reform and passage of theTerrorism Risk Insurance Act–and there aren't many with hisgravitas left.

I had a sense the end was near when Mr. Ayer did not attend theindustry's annual “family reunion” this past January–theProperty-Casualty Joint Industry Forum–where he had been a fixturefor years. The likelihood of his departure from the grand stage wasdriven home by the cancellation of his participation at lastmonth's CEO panel during the Independent Insurance Agents andBrokers of America annual conference.

Since this is an industry lacking a true public face, the lossof even one powerful voice like Mr. Ayer's is to be lamented. Whowill replace him–not only at The Hartford, but as an influentialforce within the industry?

There are still a few giants around–such as Ted Kelly of LibertyMutual and Brian Duperreault at Marsh–but the fraternity isdwindling. Of the relative newcomers, the persona of EvanGreenberg, CEO of ACE, is looming larger with each publicstatement.

In short, despite The Hartford's recent woes, Mr. Ayercontributed much to this industry for a long time, and his exitshould be met with applause, not with catcalls or ripe fruit. Hewill be missed.