Mark Gilbert, 85, the founder of an electric lighting and wholesale distribution company who spent the last 15 years of his life fighting insurance companies that continually raise the premiums of chronically ill patients, died of complications from anemia Sunday, April 14, in Rush North Shore Medical Center. Born in Chicago to a large family, Mr. Gilbert hoped to attend law school as a young man but couldn’t afford it during the Depression. Instead, he worked a number of jobs before striking out on his own in 1947 when he founded his company, Ever-Ready. He ran the small firm until 1983, when Union Carbide successfully sued to force him to change his business’ name because it was similar to the name of their battery division. The experience stoked Mr. Gilbert’s drive to take on what he saw as injustices foisted on little people by corporate giants, said his son-in-law Dr. Michael Epstein. Soon after the Union Carbide suit, he began another major fight when a family member was diagnosed with clinical depression in 1985. The family member’s insurance company, Bankers Life & Casualty, began steadily raising her premiums, so Mr. Gilbert took them to court, doing much of the legal research and writing many of the briefs himself. His work became the subject of a Newsweek article, and the suit has since become a class-action naming thousands of plaintiffs. Mr. Gilbert is survived by his wife of 63 years, Sonia; two daughters, Fern Horowitz and Susan Epstein; four granddaughters; and a great-grandson. Services have been held.
