Allan was a true New Yorker. He was born in Manhattan, lived almost all his life there, and died there.

Before Princeton he attended both Lawrenceville and Peddie, where he played football and basketball. With us he continued football and played freshman lacrosse. He then played 150-pound football for three years as quarterback and earned the Harry A. Mahnken Award. Allan dined at Cottage and majored in politics.

After Princeton Allan worked in East Africa and then for a short time with the Ford Foundation. He continued his studies in writing — his first love — at the Harvard School of Education in 1961. He attended Johns Hopkins from 1961 to 1963, and the Columbia School of General Studies, Woolrich Fellowship, in 1973.

He made his living as a fulltime freelance writer until 1988. Having written on the stock market, he joined Merrill Lynch as a financial adviser for 20 years. In 2008 he re-returned to writing full time and published one novel, two books of short stories, and was near completion of another novel when he died.

Allan died suddenly Oct. 3, 2018, of a heart attack. He was predeceased by his wife, Laura, in 1999 and by a son in 2006. He is survived by two sons and a daughter-in-law, who have our sympathy.

Undergraduate Class of 1960