With a small amount of capital, Laurance Eustis, Jr. and his brother-in-law, William D. Galbreath of Memphis, founded Canal Mortgage in 1956 as an adjunct to the 10-year-old Eustis General Insurance Agency. The Company’s first success was to acquire a sizable servicing portfolio of loans owned by Guardian Life Insurance. Guardian Life correctly predicted the boom in garden apartments in suburban locations throughout the country. The Company and Guardian were able to capitalize on Guardian’s foresight. In 1959, the name of the Company was changed to Laurance Eustis Mortgage Corporation (LEMC). The company produced single-family and loans secured by apartments. Beginning in 1960 with The Life Insurance Company of Georgia (now ING Investment Management), LEMC established correspondence with a number of companies, including Life Casualty of Tennessee (now American General), that are still thriving 40 years later. Laurence (Larry) Eustis, III joined the Company in 1968 after serving in the US Navy and as an aid to US House of Representatives Majority Whip Hale Boggs. The Company began focusing on solely on income property loans and the servicing portfolio began to grow.