Former NRMA Insurance leader and inaugural Suncorp Metway Chairman John Lamble has died.

Mr Lamble died last month at the age of 93.

Mr Lamble, who NRMA Insurance GM from 1968 to 1987 and NRMA Group CEO from 1987 to 1992, was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1993 for service to the insurance industry.

In 1996 he became the first chairman of Suncorp Metway, formed through a merger of three organisations to create Australia’s then fifth-largest listed financial services group. He retired from the role in 2003.

The Australia and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Mr Lamble in 2017.

A tribute posted on the Finity website last week says Mr Lamble was a true pioneer of the Australian personal lines insurance market and his record of achievement and service to the industry over 63 years is unmatched.

His career highlights and achievements include developing a statistical-based approach to pricing insurance in 1970, introducing plain English policy wordings that facilitated the direct market and a quality-focussed approach to process improvement and keeping the customer at the centre.

Mr Lamble served on a number of boards for insurers and financial services companies over the course of his career and after his retirement from Suncorp, stepping down in 2017 from his last director role on the board of RAA Insurance in 2017, Finity says.

A Sydney Morning Herald tribute notice describes Mr Lamble as a family patriarch, business leader, philanthropist and mentor who inspired and encouraged all who knew him.