Ivan Allen, Jr.
Ivan Allen Jr. , was an American businessman who served two terms as the 52nd Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, during the turbulent civil rights era of the 1960s. Allen provided pivotal leadership for transforming the segregated and economically stagnant Old South into the progressive New South.
Ivan Allen Jr. was born in Atlanta on March 15, 1911, the only son of Ivan Allen, Sr and Irene Beaumont Allen. His father Allen Sr. was cofounder of the Ivan Allen Company , an office supply and furniture store that, by 1925, had about fifty employees and was one of Atlantas bestknown businesses. Allen Sr. was also a founding member of the Atlanta Rotary Club, served as president of the new Atlanta Convention Bureau , president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce , two years as Senator in the Georgia state legislature , and was the treasurer of the Georgia Democratic Party in 1936. In an effort to attract northern capital to Atlanta, Allen Sr. headed the Atlanta chambers Forward Atlanta booster campaign , a strategy that would lure almost 700 new businesses to Atlanta and serve to influence Allen Jr.s future as a businessman and civic leader.
Source: Wikipedia