A $100,000 commitment has been made by XL Capital to establish a scholarship for students pursing degrees in risk management or insurance in the US.

The scholarship has been established in memory of the company’s first chairman and chief executive officer, the late Ian R. Heap, who died aged 81 last December.

Named the XL Ian R. Heap Memorial Scholarship, it is a merit-based scholarship and will be granted for the first time in 2008.

It is to be administered by the Spencer Educational Foundation, which supports undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in the risk management and insurance disciplines.

XL’s initial commitment will allow the scholarship awards in $5,000 increments to go to students.

XL’s president and chief executive officer Brian M. O’Hara said: “Education is the primary focus of XL’s global Corporate Social Responsibility programme and it is an honour and fitting for us to make this commitment to further education in the name of the late Ian Heap.

“While he accomplished so much without the benefits of further education or a financially advantaged background, Ian was a strong proponent of helping others to reach their potential.”

During his career in the property/casualty commercial insurance industry, Mr. Heap served as chairman and CEO from 1986 to 1988. He became president and CEO of Bermuda-based property catastrophe reinsurance company Mid Ocean Reinsurance Company in 1992, which merged with XL in 1998.

While he retired from Mid Ocean Re in 1993, Mr. Heap remained closely connected to XL as a director on the board until 2002 then as a member of the XL Capital Advisory Council until April 2006.