United States
                       Securities And Exchange Commission

                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    Form 8-K

                                 Current Report
                     Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)of the
                        Securities Exchange Act of 1934

                                    12/19/02
                Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported)

                               Safeco Corporation
               (Exact name of registrant as specified in Charter)

              Washington             1-6563             91-0742146
             (State or other         (Commission        (IRS Employer
             jurisdiction of         File Number)       Identification No.)
             incorporation)

                    Safeco Plaza, Seattle, Washington     98185
              (Address of principal executive officers) (Zip Code)

                                 (206) 545-5000
              (Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Item 5. Other Events


                   Washington Mutual Chairman Kerry Killinger
                      elected to SAFECO board of directors

     SEATTLE--  (Dec.  19,  2002)--  SAFECO's  (NASDAQ:SAFC)  board of directors
elected Kerry Killinger as director, effective Jan. 1, 2003.

     Killinger  is  chairman,  president  and  CEO of  Seattle-based  Washington
Mutual, Inc., a national retailer of consumer financial services.

     "We're excited about Kerry joining our board, bringing his broad experience
in the  financial  services  arena,"  said  Joshua  Green  III,  who  chairs the
nominating/governance  committee  for SAFECO's  board of  directors.  "Under his
leadership,  Washington  Mutual  has  consistently  outperformed  the S&P 500 in
generating returns for its shareholders."

     Killinger, 53, was named Washington Mutual's president in 1988 and chairman
in 1991. He led the  transformation  of Washington Mutual from a regional thrift
institution to a major national financial  services company.  During the past 10
years,  Washington  Mutual's assets have increased from $10 billion to more than
$260 billion, and annual net income has grown from $10 million to $3.1 billion.

     "Kerry  has a proven  track  record of  successfully  growing a company  by
focusing on core markets," said Mike  McGavick,  SAFECO  president and CEO. "His
expertise  and  guidance  will  be  of  tremendous  assistance  as we  focus  on
profitably  growing SAFECO's Personal  Insurance,  Business Insurance and Life &
Investments lines of business." SAFECO, in business since 1923, is a Fortune 500
company  based in Seattle that sells  insurance and related  financial  products
through  more than  17,000  independent  agents  and  financial  advisors.  More
information about SAFECO is available online at WWW.SAFECO.COM.


                                     # # #
Signature

Pursuant to the  requirements  of the  Securities  and Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant  has duly  caused  this  report  to be  signed  on its  behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

                                                Safeco Corporation
                                                Registrant

        Dated: December 19, 2002                /s/Richard M. Levy
                                                -------------------------------
                                                Richard M. Levy
                                                Vice President, Controller
                                                and Chief Accounting Officer