It is Jerry Kotler. Who is Jerry Kotler?

Ali, Gretzky … Kotler?

He’s no household name, but Jerry Kotler is still one of the greatest. How do you measure greatness?

As with many things, it’s often in the eye of the beholder – a matter of opinion or taste, not easily defined or categorized. Was Muhammad Ali “The Greatest” because he won the heavyweight title three times, or because of his iconic, electric personality? Wayne Gretzky was “The Great One,” but did he earn that moniker with 61 NHL records or four Stanley Cups?

The truth is, it wasn’t Ali’s boxing or his bombast; it wasn’t Gretzky’s scoring skills or his winning ways. It was the combined weight of all these things, the fruits of hard-fought and carefully constructed careers, and the singular efforts of men determined to be the best on their field. You might never win Olympic gold or have a candy bar named after you, but perhaps you approach your own vocation with the same all-go, no-quit aspirations. Jerry Kotler sure does.

Jerry started calling himself “The Greatest Public Adjuster of Them All” years ago, as an advertising slogan and for humor (get to know Jerry, and you learn quickly that humor is a big part of his persona). It’s not that he didn’t consider himself an excellent public adjuster – “I just pretend that’s my claim,” he says, “or my mother’s” – but he’s not really the sort to toot his own horn.  He lets his clients do that for him.

Somehow, though, the slogan stuck. Nowadays, Jerry puts the slogan on everything from refrigerator magnets to notepads to flashlights, for two reasons. First, he thinks it’s humorous. Second, he knows that for people who’ve suffered a property loss, there’s nothing more serious than their insurance policy – and he wants them to know they cannot find a more honest, reliable or skilled public adjuster to protect their insurance interests.

“Whether your loss is $5,000 or $5 million, it doesn’t matter to me,” Jerry says. “What you see is what you get. I’ve handled business and residential claims since 1975. I deliver the best service by being responsive to my clients’ immediate and long-term needs. I have a good working relationship with the Insurance Company Adjusters – the insurance companies know me and respect me, and they know when I call them, I’m not fooling around.”

It all boils down to honesty, according to Jerry. “I fight for every nickel, but I don’t try to get things that aren’t there,” he says. “Insurers know that if I’m going for it, it’s in the policy and they’re going to have to pay for it. And I never do things like quote false numbers to raise a potential client’s hopes and get some new business. I’ll get you more money than anyone else, but there’s never anything better than an honest answer.”

Honest, and maybe a little funny. “I know the people who call me are uptight, worried and scared,” Jerry says. “And I’m truly sympathetic to what they’re going through. But humor sometimes eases the heart. And they need to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. So, yes… sometimes, I try to help them out that way, too.”

Based in Saint James, NY, and licensed to practice across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut (though he’s consulted on cases as far afield as Florida and St. Croix, Virgin Islands), Jerry doesn’t monitor police scanners or otherwise “chase” business. Business comes to him, based on word of mouth recommendations from his very satisfied clients. More than 3,000 clients later, it’s fair to say this approach is working.

So, who is Jerry Kotler? He’s Ali and Gretzky – by any measure, the best at what he does. But don’t just take his word for it: Look at "Who Is Jerry Kotler from Clients" on the top menu to learn what some of the happiest policyholders in the land have to say about “The Greatest Public Adjuster of Them All.”

What Makes Jerry "The Greatest?"

 Policyholders praise the prince of public adjusters