First Zurich Financial Services lost its global CEO when Rolf Huppi stepped aside in the face of strident shareholder criticism of his recent performance.  Mr Huppi intended to stay on a chairman. But late last week the man they called “Mr Zurich” quit as chairman, too.

Mr Huppi was praised through the ’90s as a visionary leader who brought his company to a position of eminence in European insurance. But he was finally brought down by a problem many corporations are facing in a tight economic environment: the difficulty of containing costs with merged operations.

The autocratic Mr Huppi ran the company for 11 years. He announced his decision to step down as CEO in February.