WD Allen

“Life’s too short.” This was one of WD Allen’s guiding principles. Too short for regret, too short for second-guessing, too short not to pursue what you love best. And indeed life was too short for one of Mizzou’s most beloved teaching professors. William D (WD) Allen passed away on Saturday morning, September 21, 2024 a few weeks shy of his 76th birthday.

It was just like him to slip quietly away, no fuss, no grand exits, no drama, no long goodbyes. Because anyone who knew WD knew that he never sought, nor did he enjoy, the limelight. Kind and humble are two words often heard to describe WD. Yet in his unassuming way, he changed lives, as many former students recounted in the many testimonials and remembrances that poured in after news of his passing.

WD was born in Marshalltown, IA on November 7, 1948, where he lived there with his parents, Walker Woodrow Allen and Doris Pinney Allen, and his younger sister Pinney. He moved to Columbia with them in 1969 after his father was named Chief Financial Officer at University Hospital.

College didn’t initially suit WD - he bragged about getting kicked out of Cornell University twice. He later wandered the halls of several institutions of higher learning, including MU (twice), before finally completing his BSBA there in 1990. After graduation he worked for the Kroenke Group, followed by a stint at MO State Employees Retirement System. He decided to return to MU to pursue a PhD in Finance, receiving his doctorate in December 2006. That’s when the magic happened.

WD discovered his true calling when, in 2008, he joined the MU College of Business faculty as a teaching professor. Well known in the Finance Department at what is now known as the Trulaske College of Business, he taught full-time for 5 years. Then after retirement he stayed on as an adjunct professor to continue leading his legacy class, the Allen Angel Capital Education (AACE) Program.

If you were fortunate enough to know him, you knew that he loved two things: his wife Mel and his Mizzou students (aka “the kids”). And not always in that order. He met Mel on a blind date in 1994, married her in 1996, and they lived (mostly) happily ever after until his passing. WD and Mel had no human children, but over the years their family included the non-humans: Nimbus, Arlo, Kerouac, Schelby, Thatcher (after Becky, not Margaret), Bear and finally Augie. Besides his family and teaching, WD loved motorcycles, cars – especially his 1957 Golden Hawk Studebaker – music, and college basketball. Though he would deny it, he was an accomplished musician, insisting that he would only play the piano when no one was around.

He leaves behind in Columbia his wife and life partner, Mellodie (Mel) Wilson and their Greater Swiss Mountain dog Auguste Picard (“Augie”), named after a Swiss hot-air balloonist. (WD once owned a hot air balloon.) He is also survived by his sister Pinney Lee Allen (Charles “Buddy” Miller) of Pebble Beach, CA; his niece Linden Miller Akerman (Alex) of Los Angeles; their two daughters, Lilya Dare and Alexandra Lee; niece Doria Coats Miller of New York City, and two brothers-in-law, Mark Wilson (Laurie) and Duke Wilson (Margaret) of Montgomery, AL.

For those interested in supporting WD’s legacy, donations may be made to the Allen Family Student Angel Program Quasi Endowment at the University of Missouri. To make a donation, go to https://mizzou.us/WDAllen-MemorialGifts. He’d also be pleased if you kept your money and bought yourself and your friends a round of beer, hoisting your mugs in his honor.

A Celebration of Life is planned for November 2, 2024 from 2:00-5:00 pm at The Heidelberg, 410 S. 9th St., Columbia, MO.

“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”

― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz