BS Business Administration ’70
2021 ALUMNI HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
Ted Ostrander is the retired chairman and CEO of Lassiter-Ware Inc., initiating its growth from a seven-person office in 1983 into a company employing 130 people in five locations and one of the largest independent insurance agencies in Florida.
Upon graduating from Florida State, Ostrander was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served on active duty and then in the Reserve. He credits both FSU and his military service for preparing him for his professional career.
After his military service, Ostrander joined the St. Paul Insurance Companies Inc. as a supervising underwriter in San Antonio, Texas. Discovering the corporate life was not suitable to him and his entrepreneurial spirit, he returned to Florida to begin work at Lassiter-Ware, then a small insurance agency in Leesburg. A few years later, he and his father bought out the existing shareholders and began to grow the agency. In 1983, he became its president and continued to expand the business.
Ostrander was chairman of the National Alliance CIC Board of Governors, a member of the advisory board of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and chairman of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents. He received the prestigious Mitchell Stallings Award in recognition of his tireless work as an advocate for insurance agents and the industry.
Ostrander’s civic spirit has been evident throughout his life. He served as president of his local chamber of commerce, a member of the Central Florida Boy Scouts’ board of directors, Central Florida Health Alliance’s director and vice chairman, Northwest Florida Taxing District’s director, a vestry member and senior warden for his church and finance committee member for the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida. He also has been involved in many other civic clubs and received a chamber of commerce award given to the person who has given the most to his community.
Over the years, Ostrander and Lassiter-Ware have been actively involved with the college’s Dr. William T. Hold/The National Alliance Program in Risk Management and Insurance, participating in several events and hiring summer interns and RMI graduates. He currently chairs the college’s RMI Executive Council. To demonstrate his appreciation to the College of Business, Ostrander funded a space in Legacy Hall, the college’s new building.
