Company History
Surety United National Insurance Agency, Inc. dba. SUN Insurance Agency, was established in Seattle, in 1959, by two talented Seattle entrepreneurs, Mr. Ralf Hatfield and Mr.David Valenti. Prior to starting the Seattle company, Mr. Hatfield was the sales manager of Public Employees Mutual Insurance Company, also known today as PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company, and Mr. David Valenti was an employee and PEMIC sales agent.
In the early days, SUN Insurance Agency operated inside the Price Mart retail store in North Seattle at 155th and Aurora Ave. North. Price Mart was part of the Value Mart retail store chain, and our agency operated under the name Price Mart Insurance Agency. today the Price Mart is your local Safeway store, and is across the street from the current insurance agency location.
In September of 1959, then local “in house” PEMCO insurance agent, Mr. Max S. Zoretic, acquired Mr. Ralf Hatfield’s ownership shares, to become the Managing General Partner for SUN Insurance Agency. Not soon thereafter, Mr. Dave Valenti also sold his shares in SUN Insurance Agency to Mr. Max Zoretic.
SUN Insurance Agency is a corporation licensed as an independent insurance agent, and appointed by local and national insurers to solicit applications for insurance on their behalf. Our Line of Authority is: Property, Casualty, Life, and Disability. Our WAOIC Agent Code is 38569. We are a Washington State domiciled corporation, and our agency office is still located in Shoreline Washington, locals refer to as the North Seattle Area.
Max Zoretic retired in 2002 and sold his shares to his son and daughter-in-law. He continued to enjoy working in the agency up until 2011, when he formally retired, later passing on the the great bridge in the sky, back in 2014 at the age of 84. Max had a full career filled with wonderful years as an insurance agent, agency owner, real estate co-developer, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a mentor, and a scratch golfer.
Max is greatly missed, and we, along with many of our long-standing clients, still refer to the days of coming into the office to discuss used cars, and have him manually rate a policy, looking up Comp and Collision premiums in a book, and knowing darn near to the penny how much that Ford F-25o would cost to insure.
We honor Max’s legacy and are blessed with as many as four generations of clients and families that we have had the privilege of working with here at SUN Insurance Agency, and since 1959.
In November of 2017 Mr. Daniel F. Zoretic, Max’s son, became the Vice-President and principal shareholder in SUN Insurance Agency. His daughter has joined him in the agency, and is bringing up the ranks of learning the business, and helping her Dad with the next generation of independent insurance solutions.
We consider helping provide you choice based solutions in solving your insurance needs. It is a blessing, and an honor to work with you, and our 66 year history of offering local, community and national carrier approaches to help you solve your insurance needs.
We look forward to serving your decision in helping find insurance solutions that work for you.
Sincerely,
Daniel F. Zoretic | President
