probably the greatest I ever made". Business career After graduating from Georgia Tech in 1933 during the depths of the Great Depression, Allen refused offers from other companies and began his lifetime of work in the family business, which was at the time called the Ivan Allen–Marshall Company. That summer, he worked in the basement of the business, learning from a black employee named Arthur Wright and earning $100 per month. At the time, the business consisted of one Atlanta store and grossed $196,000. In 1936, he married Louise Richardson, granddaughter of Hugh T. Inman, and member of one of the most prominent families in Atlanta. He continued working at the company until he was called to the army to serve in World War II from 1942 to 1945. After the War, he worked in the Georgia State Capitol statehousee from the fall of 1945 until the spring of 1946. In March 1946, Allen Sr. asked his son to return to the family business, in light of the fact that his partner, Charles Marshall, was in poor health and had decided to retire. Allen resigned from his position as executive secretary to the governor and became president his father's company in 1946. In 1948, Marshall died and willed his half of the Ivan Allen–Marshall Company to Allen Jr., giving the Allen family ownership of the firm. By 1949, the firm had more than two hundred employees and annual revenues of several million dollars. Together with his father, he changed the name to the Ivan Allen Company in 1953. The company would flourish over the next four decades under his leadership and that of his late son, Ivan Allen III, becoming the region's preeminent office supplies and furniture dealer, with 17 offices across the South. Ivan Allen Jr. was president of Ivan Allen Company from 1946 to 1970 and chairman from 1970 to 1995. In 1988, the Ivan Allen Company boasted $116 million in revenues. In 1999, the supplies division of the Ivan Allen Company was sold to Staples, Inc. The furniture division, now known as Ivan Allen Workspace, is headed by his son, Iman Allen. Political and civic involvement In 1936, Allen actively campaigned for Georgia Governor Eurith D. Rivers, serving in a number of state-government positions during the Rivers administration between 1936 and 1940. As treasurer of the State Hospital Authority, he raised $2.5 million by passing the state's