Alfred W. Gross, the long-serving Virginia insurance commissioner who died just seven months after retiring, was an editor’s dream, even though many of those agents and brokers he served wouldn’t have known if they bumped into him.

Alfred W. Gross, one of the longest serving insurance commissioners in the U.S., died this week, less than seven months after he gave up his post has Virginia’s insurance regulator.

A deputy commissioner at the Virginia State Corporation Commission Bureau of Insurance was selected to replace Alfred W. Gross, who retires Dec. 31.

Virginia Insurance Commissioner Alfred W. Gross, one of the longest serving at that post in the nation, plans to retire Dec. 31.