building materials company in Memphis until 1981 and was a well respected and widely traveled industry consultant since that time.Longtime industry leader William Allen died Monday, March 26, after a long illness. He was 82. Known to hundreds of ready mixed concrete personnel over his more than half century of service to the industry, Mr. Allen was one of the industry’s most distinguished and accomplished figures. He owned and managed the largest ready mixed concrete, sand and gravel, block and building materials company in Memphis until 1981 and was a well respected and widely traveled industry consultant since that time.
Mr. Allen lectured to more than 26 ready mixed concrete and aggregate state associations and conducted workshops for numerous NRMCA national conventions, state association conventions and the CONEXPO-CON/AGG trade show. Throughout his career, he had valued over 600 ready mixed concrete, aggregate and concrete products companies in more than 45 states. He was the principle author of Module III-General Business Skills of the NRMCA Certified Concrete Sales Professional Program. He served as chairman of the Board of Directors of NRMCA in 1981, after serving as treasurer in 1978 and vice chairman in 1979 and 1980. He also chaired the Membership, Promotion, Long Range Planning and Joint Financial Management (BAC) committees, including the NRMCA/RMC Industry Data Survey Task Group.
NRMCA created a lifetime achievement award in business administration in 2006 and named it after Mr. Allen as one way to recognize his immense contributions to the industry and the Association. Fittingly, Mr. Allen was the first recipient of the award now known as the William B. Allen Award. The trophy with the names of the award recipients permanently resides in the lobby of the NRMCA headquarters in Silver Spring, MD.
Mr. Allen was a graduate of Rhodes College with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps’ Platoon Leaders Class in 1951. He served on active duty from 1953 through 1955 as battalion equipment officer for the Eighth Engineer Battalion, attached to the 2nd Marine Division, in charge of all equipment and aggregate pits while building several air strips at Cherry Point, NC and Vieques, PR. He was honorably discharged with the rank of captain in 1960.
Information on survivors and funeral arrangements was not available before E-NEWS was finalized. Further details will be posted on the NRMCA Web site as soon as they are made available.
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association