Obituary of John B. Allen

WESTPORT, CONN John B. Allen of Westport, CT, died from complications of a traumatic brain injury on January 2, 2026. He was 61 years old. John was born to Tom and Eileen Allen (née Clarke) on October 16, 1964, at Misericordia Hospital in the Bronx, NY – the third of four children. He attended St. Augustine School in New City, NY; Clarkstown Senior High South in West Nyack, NY; the University of Notre Dame, where he received a dual degree in Philosophy and Spanish, Summa Cum Laude; and Columbia University, where he received his Juris Doctor with high honors. John was a longtime resident of Westport, CT, and parishioner at Assumption Parish there. John mastered pursuits both athletic and intellectual. Throughout his youth, he was a dedicated and highly awarded swimmer. At Notre Dame, he was a contributing member of both the swim and water polo teams. In academic life, John shone, excelling in each of his classes. As an undergrad, he was a student and friend of renowned American philosopher Dr. Alvin Plantinga. In law school he cultivated his analytic skills into a highly successful law career. He even once engaged in a published debate with Former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Beyond this, John was an avid reader and lover of the arts, in particular world literature. By the end of his life, he could speak and read in four languages fluently. In the summer of John's sophomore year of college, he met Ursula St. John while working as a lifeguard at High Tor State Park. The two fell in love and eventually married on March 18, 1989, at St. Paul's Church in Congers, NY. They lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and Pelham, NY before settling down in Westport, CT, where they would raise their two children: son Gerard (23) and daughter Isabel (20). John was a committed Catholic who lived his life on the principles of self-sacrifice, forgiveness, kindness, and patience with all. He enlivened family life with faith, intellect, and eccentric humor. John loved the Mets, summers at the beach in Cape Cod, the Grateful Dead, lively intellectual discussion, singing and playing his guitar, learning everything he could, but most of all his family. He is survived by his immediate family, Ursula, Gerard, and Isabel, of Westport, CT; his sister, Barbara Ender of North Haledon, NJ (Robert), his brothers, Tom of Hollis, NH (Sue) and Pat of Harriman, NY (Elevena); his 10 nephews and nieces: Brian, Colleen, Elizabeth, Tommy, Max, Angie, Gracie, August, Pattie, Liam; and grand-niece, Addie; his in-laws: Bernadette, Ed (Lu), Bobby (Mary), and Emmett St. John (Padra) and their children: Missy, Jackie, Caroline, Eddie, and Owen. His wake is at Harding Funeral Home in Westport, CT on Wednesday, January 7, from 4-8pm, and Mass of Christian Burial at Assumption Church, also in Westport, on Thursday, January 8, at 10:30am, immediately followed by a burial at Willowbrook Cemetery in Westport. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Seeds of Love (Semillas de Amor) www.semillasdeamor.org, the orphanage in Guatemala from which John's daughter, Isabel, was adopted.