"The 10 Greatest CEOs of All Time." Personal life In the last years of his life, Allen suffered from Alzheimer's disease. He died in Seattle on October 28, 1985, at the age of 85. Allen is profiled in Senator John McCain's and Mark Salter's 2007 book, Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them. References 1900 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American aviation businesspeople American chief executives American chairpersons of corporations Boeing people Harvard Law School alumni National Aviation Hall of Fame inductees