Dudley L. Moore Jr., the founder, chairman, and CEO of Atlanta-based Omni Insurance Group Inc., died June 25, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. He was 88.
Mr. Moore was a longtime supporter of the University of Georgia and the Terry College of Business — his name dons a building with lifelong colleague and friend Jack Rooker in the Terry College Business Learning Community. A 1957 business school graduate, Mr. Moore served in several alumni leadership roles, including founding chairman of the Terry College Board of Overseers and chairman of the UGA Foundation Board of Trustees.
Mr. Moore’s support of UGA spans more than five decades, beginning soon after he started his successful career in insurance. In 1986, with industry support, he endowed the Dudley L. Moore, Jr. Chair of Insurance to provide faculty support for travel, seminars, and other supplemental activities. In addition to chairing the UGA Foundation Board of Trustees and Terry Board of Overseers, he served on the Terry Business Advisory Board and as trustee of the UGA Real Estate Foundation. Mr. Moore’s wife, Peggy, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UGA’s College of Education, and three of the Moores’ children also graduated from UGA.
Giving back to UGA and the Terry College was essential to Mr. Moore.
“We live in a world that is fast-changing,” Mr. Moore said in 2017. “A good education is one of the best ways to meet the challenge of change. Our system of education, however, must also meet the challenge of change. It’s why I wanted to give back with my support for good strategic planning, adequate funding, state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, modern, functional buildings, and sustainable resources.”
Dudley L. Moore Jr. was born on May 3, 1936, in South Georgia, where he developed his work ethic at a young age by picking tomatoes during the hot summer months. His family moved to Atlanta in his teenage years, where Mr. Moore worked as a bag boy, stock clerk, and paper carrier while a student at North Fulton High School. He also developed an entrepreneurial spirit, building a laundry service business and selling rubber shower shoes.
Initially attending Georgia Tech, Mr. Moore transferred to UGA to work with his father in the family insurance agency. For the next 22 years, Mr. Moore turned Moore Group Inc. into a multi-million dollar holding company, selling the group to American Financial Corp. in 1979 and staying as CEO until 1985.
Mr. Moore moved on to Omni Insurance, a company licensed in 25 states and ranked 22nd among non-standard auto insurers when acquired by Hartford Financial Services in 1997. Since then, Mr. Moore has run The Peggy B. and Dudley L. Moore Jr. Family Foundation Inc.
Mr. Moore received the Terry College Distinguished Alumni Award in 1985 and was named the 1992 Risk Management and Insurance Alumnus of the Year.
In addition to Peggy, Mr. Moore leaves behind four children: sons Dudley L. III, Lane and Richard, and daughter Margaret.