By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Bob Allen, the founder of Allen Marine Inc. and a longtime Sitka resident, died this morning. He was 83.
Family members said he passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his family.
Services are pending, and an obituary will appear in the Sentinel later this week.
Bob and his wife Betty moved from Kodiak to Sitka with their family in 1968 when they bought the boatyard and marine ways on Sawmill Creek Road. Over the years the company has become one of Sitka’s major employers with its boat building and tour business. Starting with sightseeing tours of local waters, it expanded into the largest wildlife viewing and boat tour business in the state.
Both of the Allens became known for their charitable works, winning many honors including this year’s Chamber of Commerce Cossack Cap award for community service, presented at the Chamber’s annual gala Feb. 1.
“Sitka has lost one of its visionary mariners and entrepreneurs,” said state Sen. Bert Stedman. “He was extremely civic minded, and responsible for many, many families in town having livable-wage jobs. My condolences to Betty and the family.”
“I think he’s one of Alaska’s more prominent entrepreneurs,” agreed Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins. “He’s built an incredible business. It’s a tremendous legacy he’s leaving in Sitka, Alaska.”
Bob Allen sits with his great-granddaughter Olivia Leclerc in April 2019 during the christening of an Allen Marine boat. (Sentinel file photo)
The business was originally a boatyard and marine ways. In the early 1970s, the company refurbished a sunken yacht and turned it into the day cruise vessel St. Michael. Two other boats were added, the St. Aquilina and St. Nicholas, offering cruise ship passengers a chance to get out into Silver Bay.
The company started boat building in the 1980s, with the game-changing additions of high-speed vessels Sea Otter Express and Sea Lion Express in the early 1990s.
“The goal was to see sea otters, and the closest sea otters at the time were in Salisbury Sound,” said one of Bob and Betty’s sons, Rob Allen. “You had to get there and back quickly” to be able to see the otters, and meet the cruise ship schedules.
The company now has some 45 vessels, operating in Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan. One of Allen Marine’s vessels was pressed into service this past weekend to carry passengers from Southeast villages to Juneau, filling in for the sidelined vessels of the Alaska Marine Highway.
“(Bob) was bigger than a trailblazer,” Mayor Gary Paxton said. “He was an amazing guy who built an amazing business, he raised wonderful children.”
Paxton noted the Allen company’s more recent development of the overnight cruise business, with service comparable to that of any high-end cruise ship. “It’s hard to put into words ... He’s a man of such humility, in his personal appearance and demeanor, and so on. He’s a giant. We’re lucky he chose Sitka to pursue his goals.”
Those who spoke to the Sentinel recall how much Allen enjoyed his work. Paxton remembers stopping by the business in the early 1990s to find Bob “turning iron, helping with construction.” Although Allen stepped down as president of the company more than a decade ago, he still stopped by the office regularly and was interested in what was happening.
John Dunlap, who worked for the company from 1992 through 2016, said he was always impressed by Bob’s thought process.
“It’s a lesson also learned by family members: don’t focus on what you can’t do or what people tell you you can’t do,” Dunlap said. “If you envision something don’t let things stand in your way. Bob was all about that. It was a daily thing. Every decision you made was from that perspective. ... It was maybe you can’t finish the project today, but there are things you can do today to keep moving that project forward until it’s done.”
Dunlap said Bob also was aware of the lasting impression on others brought on by acts of kindness. Dunlap cited the example of two grocery stores in Kodiak during the great earthquake of 1968. One jacked up its prices, and profited in the short term. The other told townspeople to come in and take what they needed. Today one of those stores has expanded, and the other has not.
“People never forgot when that happened,” Dunlap said. “Bob lived like that and it’s one of the reasons I was so welcome and almost felt like part of the family. ... That was Bob’s way of thinking, and he was always quick to return a favor.”
Family was always important to Bob, his son Rob said. At one time or another all five of his children – Valerie, Natalie, Rob, Jennifer and Dave – and many grandchildren and in-laws worked in the family business.
“Everything was around family,” Rob said. “Family was important, the most important. There were always things going on in the house, kids, grandkids stop in all the time. Everyone is always welcome. There’s always something going on.”
While family was always welcome to work for the business, there was no expectation to do so, Rob said.
“Family was always there to support whatever your dreams and goals were,” he said.
Rob said his dad was diagnosed with cancer three years ago, but after treatment was well until about three months ago.
Allen Marine is a regular donor to nonprofit organizations for charity cruises, and both Bob and Betty have been involved in the St. Michael’s church council.
In lieu of flowers, Rob said, donations may be made to the St. Michael’s roof repair project.
