The Robert Pehnke Corporation has been servicing the Insurance and Real Estate needs of South Queens for the past five decades. A family run business traces back three generations to the founder Robert Pehnke, has established a reputation of honesty and reliability in the area.

The founder Robert Pehnke followed a true "American Dream" story. Born one of thirteen children, he left his home of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) and worked his way to the United States as a merchant seaman. Signing off at the age of 17 at Galveston Texas he found himself alone, a stranger in a stranger world. Always an optimism, he learned the new language from deck hands while working a dredge boat in Galveston harbor and reading from comic strips in the local papers. He joined the US Coast Guard at the age of 18 and served as a Surfman on the Texas Gulf during the prohibition period. Leaving the service, he went on to work as a farm hand and cowboy on the Texas Plains. Hearing that the opportunities were better "up North", Robert signed on as an oiler for a Coast wise vessel working his way up the eastern seaboard arriving in New York during the building booms of the late 20's. Finding work as a carpenter, he helped build homes in the South Queens and Nassau areas until the crash and depression set in. These were hard times and now out of work and with a young family to support, the ever-optimistic Robert followed a natural talent and became a cook, eventually owning his own Diner by the end of the 30's. Another natural talent and his convincing personality led him at the beginning of the 40's to begin selling Real Estate properties. The Robert Pehnke Corporation was established in the late 40's and at one time operated four offices in the Queens and Nassau Areas.

The organization entered the Insurance business when son Steve left the military (USCG 1955) and joined his father at their present location on Jamaica Avenue and Van Wyck Expressway. Steve Pehnke helped develop the Insurance Agency to become the primary business today.

After graduating from Lehigh University and working in the Corporate world Steve's son Robert came into the firm and is the driving force in opening new markets for low cost insurance for our assureds.

There is a tendency for a few of the big Insurance Companies to belittle the value of independent agents such as Robert Pehnke Corporation. They try to hide the importance of personal contact and service that only the neighborhood agent can provide for its customers. Day to day advice and aid is even more needed as high tech problems complicate daily lives. Specialists in Personal Lines as well as other forms of insurance, the Robert Pehnke Corp. has added many other services to become a true One Stop Shopping Insurance Agency. Our In House Defensive Driving Classes, Premium Financing, and Plates and Registration Services gracefully compliment our Insurance services and provide our clients with cost savings and a hassle free insurance purchasing experience. Sixty years of experience and three generations of this family run business looks forward to the new millennium with the same optimism for the future that brought its founder from a foreign shore to a new life.