Robert H. (Bob) Allen
Robert H. Allen, distinguished community-minded businessman and long-time supporter of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, passed away on January 10, 2015. After graduating from Texas A&M in 1950, Allen led a successful business career serving as CFO and later CEO, director, and chairman of Gulf Sulfur, a company which became a Fortune 500 company under his leadership. In 2002, the Academic Building West at the Bush Library Complex was renamed the Robert H. and Judy Ley Allen Building in honor of the couple’s generous support of the Bush School where Allen was a long-time advisory board member.
After graduating from Ronald Reagan High School in Houston, Allen attended Texas A&M but was drafted into the 8th army shortly after entering college. While stationed in Osaka, Japan, he represented the 8th Army in track events at one point winning the All-Japan mile run in 1947. Allen graduated from Texas A&M in 1950 with a bachelor’s in Business Administration and did post graduate work at the University of Houston and the South Texas College of Law.
Allen began his business career with IBM but was quickly recruited to work for a growing CPA firm in Houston and later Gulf Sulfur where he joined the company as CFO at the age of 27. He rose through the company quickly and served as chairman, CEO, and director from 1960 until he retired in 1982. After his long career at Gulf Sulfur, Allen served as managing partner of Challenge Investment Partners which is active in mining ventures in the US, Canada and South America.
In 1995, Governor George W. Bush appointed Allen to the Texas A&M Board of Regents where he served for six years. In addition to his time on the advisory board of the Bush School, Allen served on several boards including the Baylor College of Medicine Board of Trustees, the Texas Medical Center Board of Directors, the Development Foundation Council at the Mays Business School, and the University of Texas Investment Management Company where he served as chairman.
Allen was widely recognized for his business leadership and his public service. He was named Texas Business Executive of the Year by the Texas A&M University College of Business Administration and the Graduate School of Business and received the 1979 Texas A&M University Distinguished Alumni Award, among several others.
