Allan Bailey

On December 21st we lost a tremendous Aztec, colleague, co-worker, alumni past president, friend and mentor Allan Bailey. In a career spanning 41 years Allan served the university as professor of accounting, Dean of the college of Business and CFO of the Campanile Foundation. A staple of university relations, a fixture at Aztec athletic events and beautiful role model, Allan was emblematic of the emergent quality of education offered by San Diego State. While at the time of this writing we are awaiting the scheduling of Allan’s campus memorial, I am glad to share the following letter sent to our alumni board of directors.

To Our Alumni Board and Our Past Alumni Presidents

By now I am sure you have all heard of Allan’s passing. I am sorry I could not call you all individually last week so that you did not have to hear it electronically.

But, Allan undoubtedly would have preferred a low-key reaction. It’s just that his impression on our world was so substantial that it is difficult to react in a below-the-radar way.

In recent years we have gotten a glimpse of the great life Allan had outside of San Diego State. We know his wife Nancy, and Allan, and some of his family and friends went on some spectacular trips together. We know that he cherished his family and got nothing but pure joy from having grandchildren. Essentially, we got to know how important Allan’s family was to him. We already knew how important our university was to Allan. More so, we know how important Allan was to SDSU.

In my Allan Bailey mailbox I have 2,556 messages from Allan dating back to September 1999. Wow. That is daily communication for ten years. No wonder I feel like I have lost some hard-to-describe body part comprised of brain, will, heart, soul and gumption.

Allan was a veritable facts machine. He had inordinate quantities of data-- well organized and at his fingertips. But Allan also had the key relationships to go with the information. He had built up huge stores of goodwill at every turn. The President, all the Vice presidents, the board members, the donors; they all had tremendous respect for Allan. And then, to compliment that he had the support and respect and genuine appreciation from everyone else who worked with him. Only now are we beginning to compare notes and realize that Allan was everyone’s mentor. Hundreds of us over the years. How could one person do all that?

I cannot fathom how. But I can fathom how proud I will be to walk into the Allan Bailey Library at the Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center everyday starting next July. (Thank you Mark McMillin.) Allan and I were to have moved into that building in tandem. But, having all been trained, mentored, coached and inspired by Allan Bailey, my colleagues and I will do our very best every day to carry on the mission of making San Diego State a better place.