Bob Allen, beloved newspaperman, former Wake Weekly owner, dies at 91

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Bob Allen, longtime owner and publisher of The Wake Weekly, died Thursday around 2 p.m. at his home surrounded by family members, his family announced. He was 91.

Bob was born in Davenport, Florida, on Aug. 16, 1929, as the third child of William S. and Evelyn Allen. When his dad died in 1937, the family moved to New Jersey.

His brother, Bill, bought The Wake Weekly in an attempt to build up the paper. Bill convinced Bob to come down in 1952.

Around four months later, Bob bought the paper from his brother. Bob and his wife, Peggy, owned and published the paper for nearly 50 years. Their son, Todd, purchased it in 2009. The paper was sold to The Wilson Times Co. in 2019.

Bob and Peggy became the first couple to be named to the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame in 2006. They are the only couple to be named to the hall of fame together. The Wake Forest Community Council also named a lifetime achievement award after Peggy.

Bob is well known to The Wake Weekly readers for his weekly column, “Roving Around,” where he discussed life in Wake Forest. The series ran almost every week for almost seven decades.

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