J. Bradley Allen, 19, born on February 23, 1994, passed suddenly on February 2, 2014 in Greenwich, where he resided with his family for 17 years.
Bradley was popular as a student at Washington College in Chestertown, MD, and as an investment banking intern at NYPPEX, a private equity advisory firm.
Bradley believed in close friendships, teamwork and was accomplished beyond his years in several areas. At age 4, Bradley placed 1st for his age group and received a blue ribbon for the tractor pull event at an Iowa state fair. In rowing, as a member of Greenwich Crew, Bradley set the high school freshman record in 2009 for the 2,000 meter. In hunting, Bradley and his twin brother, Tyler Allen, co-founded an upland bird hunting club and hosted friends to shoot clays and hunt pheasant, duck and quail in Hudson Valley, NY. As a guitarist, Bradley co-wrote and recorded several indie songs with friends from Greenwich at a New York City recording studio. At Oxford Academy, an independent boarding school in Westbrook,CT, Bradley proudly represented the school to prospective students, served as a dorm rep, read stories to children at local elementary schools and graduated in 2013.
Bradley looked forward to a career in private equity and enjoyed developing friendships estimating target valuations for venture-backed private companies (of which Twitter was a recent project) and supporting deal teams. He cherished his friends from Greenwich, college and also from other countries which included China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
For recreation, Bradley enjoyed boating in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), East Hampton and Montauk in New York, and locally from Cos Cob Harbor throughout Long Island Sound. He also very much enjoyed Vermont for snow skiing, fly fishing and its relaxed pace of life.
Regarding community service, Bradley believed in taking action and enjoyed challenges. Some illustrations: (1) The day after Hurricane Sandy in almost total darkness due to power outages, Bradley (with his father) visited the Bowery Mission in downtown Manhattan to donate food and help serve dinners to the homeless. (2) In 2009, at age 15, Bradley passed on attending summer camp and instead joined a 10 day mission trip to serve food at various homeless shelters, organize donations of shoes to be shipped to those in need worldwide, help local persons with AIDS (and slept in various churches) in Memphis, Tennessee with the 2nd Congregational Church. (3) Annually, Bradley enthusiastically participated in family decisions regarding charitable gift allocations. One of his favorite areas of interest was purchasing artwork to help support living artists.
Bradley was personable and typically greeted people by asking about their day. He was also understated and few friends knew he was an ancestor of various early settlers to the United States, including John Alden of the Mayflower, a signer of the Mayflower Compact in 1620, the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony.
Bradley is survived by his parents, Laurence and Michelle Allen, his sister, Lauren Allen, and his twin brother, Tyler Allen. Bradley often mentioned he looked forward to spending more time with family relatives in Florida, Massachusetts, Iowa, California and Arizona, including Richard, Natalie and Jake; Todd, Amanda, Christian, Dillon, Raquel and Jaxxon; Kyle, Jill and Cameron; Virginia and Jim; Clara and Frank; Lois, Yolanda, Margaret and others (whose last names have been withheld for privacy reasons).
Bradley was a youth member and received his Confirmation at the 2nd Congregational Church in Greenwich, CT.
To honor Bradley’s memory and belief in close friendships, teamwork and being a gentleman; the following organizations have graciously agreed to create annual awards: (a) Greenwich Crew will launch an annual “J. Bradley Allen Award for Outstanding Freshman Leadership” and (b) NYPPEX Holdings will launch an annual “J. Bradley Allen Scholarship for Outstanding Youth Leadership.”
Please send scholarship donations to: (a) Oxford Academy, J Bradley Allen Scholarship, 1393 Boston Post Road, Westbrook, CT 06498-1953 and (b) 2nd Congregational Church, J. Bradley Allen Scholarship, 139 East Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830.
A viewing will be held at 5:00p.m. to 8:00p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, 2014 at the Leo P. Gallagher Funeral Home, 31 Arch Street, Greenwich, CT. Funeral services will be held at 10:00a.m. with a reception thereafter, Saturday, February 8, 2014 at the 2nd Congregational Church, 139 East Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT.