Allan Lee Pennington passed away on June 16, 2024 at Carolina Village in Hendersonville, North Carolina at the age of 84.
Al was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 6, 1940 to Kenneth and Lillian Pennington. His father managed a five-and-dime store, and before the age of five, Al and his family moved five times. His early days set the stage for a peripatetic life—during his life, he lived in twelve states and visited all fifty. He also did marketing consulting work all over Europe and in Australia.
Al received his undergraduate business degree in 1962 and Master of Arts in Marketing in 1963, both from the University of Iowa. He earned his Ph.D. in Marketing from Indiana University in 1966 and became a Professor of Marketing at the University of Minnesota that same year. Al’s career took him from the classroom to the boardroom and back. He worked for several major retailers as an executive in marketing and strategic planning: Dayton Hudson’s in Minneapolis; Woolworth’s in New York; Sears in Chicago; Pick-n-Save in Los Angeles. He had three stints in management consulting in Ohio, New York, and Chicago. And he rounded out his career as the Sam M. Walton Executive Professor of Marketing at the University of Missouri. After a rewarding and varied career, Al retired in 1998 at age 58.
Al met his second wife, Lois Mikrut, during his time in Missouri, and they have spent the last twenty-five years laughing, golfing, puzzling, and traveling. Al was a prolific storyteller, an avid reader, a talented writer with a flair for funny and irreverent poems, a mercurial sports fan with a penchant for rooting for the winning team nearest to his home, a devoted friend to his “Minnesota Gang” for over fifty years, a deep believer in the value and import of education, and most importantly a proud father and grandfather of three children and eight grandchildren.
Al was predeceased by his parents, and his brother, Kenneth Pennington. Al is survived by his wife of twenty years, Lois Ann Mikrut; his daughter Lara Brett Pennington and her husband David Carlson of Maplewood, New Jersey; his daughter Amy Lynn Pennington and her husband Brian Brand of Exeter, New Hampshire; and his son Bradley Allan Pennington and his wife Rebecca Young Pennington of Madison, New Jersey. He is also survived by his eight grandchildren: Devon, Paige, and Mackenzie Carlson; Jayden and Isabel Brand; and Ryan, Avery, and Ella Pennington.
Al’s lasting legacy is the value he placed on education and the role it plays in a person’s fortune in life. He was an educational benefactor over the course of his life, supporting his three children through advanced degrees in law and business, contributing generously to his grandchildren’s college funds, and helping friends and former employees in whom he saw potential. At the end of his life, the nursing staff at Carolina Village and the nurses that cared for him through Four Seasons Hospice were all instrumental in helping him feel comfortable and cared for. To honor those two overarching ideas, Lois has established a scholarship in his name. In honor of Al, please consider contributing to the Allan Pennington Nursing Scholarship at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, North Carolina, which will benefit nursing school students who will go on to care for the residents in their community.
You may donate online at www.blueridge.edu/foundation. Under the red GIVE ONLINE button, select “Allan Pennington Nursing Scholarship” in the dropdown menu under “Designation.” Or you can make checks payable to “Blue Ridge Community College Educational Foundation” (or “BRCC Educational Foundation”) noting “Allan Pennington Nursing Scholarship” on the memo line and mail to
Blue Ridge Community College Educational Foundation : 180 W. Campus Drive, Flat Rock, NC 28731
An open-house celebration of Al’s life will be held on Saturday, July 6th from 11:00-2:00 at in the Bearwallow Dining Room at Carolina Village.
Condolences may be sent to the Pennington family at www.jacksonfuneralservice.com or C/O Jackson Funeral Service 1101 Greenville Highway, Hendersonville, NC 28792. Please include the name of the deceased on the condolence.