Henry G. Allyn Jr. ’43

A railroad man for 35 years, Hank died Dec. 10, 2006, at his home in Sewickley Heights, Pa. He was 86.

Born in Philadelphia, he prepped at Lawrenceville. At Princeton, he was on the freshman and JV crews and served as manager of the undergraduate dance committee and Colonial Club. He majored in biology, expecting to become a physician, but after serving as a Navy corpsman in the Pacific during World War II, he realized his first love was railroading.

He joined the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1947 and advanced rapidly into management positions. He became a vice president of the New York Central during the early 1960s, survived the Penn Central merger, and in 1968 became president of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, headquartered in Pittsburgh. He retired from P&LE in 1982, having supervised 2,700 people and orchestrated the conversion of the railroad's Pittsburgh terminal into the Station Square shopping complex.

Hank was on the board of Duquesne Light, Allegheny General Hospital, and Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel.

Besides his wife of 59 years, the former Elizabeth "Betsy" Burrows, he is survived by sons Greg and John; daughter Florence "Bonnie" Allyn; two sisters; a brother, Robert S. '46; and two granddaughters.