Bob Allen

Robert "Bob" Allen was an American funeral director and Republican politician from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, who served as mayor of his home city and then represented the 125th Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for nine terms, from 1989 through 2006. He died on Saturday 14 November 2026, aged 81.

Allen was born in Pottsville, in Schuylkill County, on 14 October 1945. He graduated from Pottsville High School and earned a degree in business administration from Lycoming College in 1968. He then graduated from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science, became a licensed funeral director and was part owner of the Allen and Pugh Funeral Home in Pottsville.

He entered public life young. Allen was elected mayor of Pottsville and served from 1976 to 1981, a period remembered for his work with the Pottsville Redevelopment Authority. He then joined the administration of Governor Dick Thornburgh, first as legislative liaison for the state Department of Environmental Resources from 1983 to 1985 and then as deputy secretary for legislative affairs in the Governor's Office from 1985 to 1986.

Allen won election to the state House in 1988 and took his seat in January 1989. Over nine consecutive terms his district covered central and western Schuylkill County, with part of Northumberland County in his first two terms and part of Berks County in his last two. In Harrisburg he chaired the House Labor Relations Committee. He sponsored the law creating Pennsylvania's Shaken Baby Syndrome Education and Prevention Program, and a measure that revised workers' compensation procedures and set up an Uninsured Employers Guaranty Fund. He lost the 2006 Republican primary after supporting the controversial 2005 legislative pay raise.

After leaving the legislature Allen ran a consulting firm, Bob Allen and Associates, from 2007 to 2020, and from 2021 he was a partner in Allen-Goodman and Associates, a political consulting firm. With his wife, Margaret "Peggy" Allen, he remained a central figure in the Schuylkill County Republican Party for four decades. The couple were married for 52 years and co-owned the funeral home. Peggy Allen died on 17 September 2026, less than two months before him.

Schuylkill County Republican chairman Gary Feathers announced Allen's death to party members, calling him another pillar of the county party. State Senator David Argall said Bob was a great friend and very dedicated to the region, and Pottsville Mayor Tom Smith described him as a mentor who kept a close interest in the city. The two men were sworn in as mayor on the same date, 5 January, exactly fifty years apart.