Mr. Jensen was born in San Francisco on March 29, 1878. His education was received in the city's public schools, and he is a graduate of the old Lincoln school, whose former pupils hold annual reunions, at which occasions some of the more prominent members of the vicinity are guests of honor as old students. The next annual banquet will be held in a few weeks on Lincoln's birthday, February 12. At that time the Lincoln Grammar School Association will present to the War Memorial Building a large oil painting of Abraham Lincoln, as a tribute to the memory of "the greatest man of the nineteenth century."

Getting back to our subject, we find that Mr. Jensen first entered the insurance business in 1900 as office boy for Charles J. Okell & Company, which began an association of 25 years, with the exception of a short period spent with the Potter office. For a number of years he was head of the Okell casualty department.

Also associated with Mr. Jensen in the Okell agency was Don E. Kessler, who is now Mr. Jensen's partner. When Charles Okell retired, the firm of Jensen-Kessler was established.

After operating for a time on the partnership basis, the concern joined forces with Balfour,Guthrie & Co., Ltd., under the fictitious name of Balfour-Kessler Agencies, Inc. On December 1, 1930, Balfour-Kessler assumed charge of the Pacific Coast operations of the Tokio Marine & Fire and of the Standard of New York, the Tokio's running mate.

Under the agreement between the principles of the Balfour-Kessler arrangement, the Jensen-Kessler side of the organization had its own casualty set-up exclusively, representing the Employers Liability and the American Employers, while the same pertained to Balfour, Guthrie as to the marine business, representing several marine insurance companies. It was only the fire business in which both firms shared as Balfour-Kessler Agencies, Inc.

Effective September 30, 1934, the Balfour-Kessler organization dissolved, splitting up into the firms of Jensen & Kessler and the Fire Insurance Department of Balfour, Guthrie and Co., Ltd. Jensen & Kessler maintained the representation of the Employers group, consisting of the American Employers, Employers Fire, Employers Liability, and the London & Provincial. Balfour, Guthrie, on the other hand, continued as Pacific Coast general agents for the Caledonian, Union of Canton, Tokio, and the Standard of New York. For that firm Ralph P. Thornton was named manager, and George R. Jardine assistant manager.