Ex-Sears President Archie R. Boe Dies

Archie R. Boe, former president of Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Allstate Insurance Co., has died of cancer at age 67.

Boe, who joined Allstate in 1941 and worked for the insurance company or its parent, Sears, until retirement in 1984, died Monday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“He was one of the first corporate executives to adapt long-range planning, known as strategic planning, into the corporate world,” said Ray Ewing, a former Allstate spokesman who worked with Boe for 20 years.

Known mostly as a car insurer, Allstate expanded into other areas of coverage in 1957 under Boe’s leadership.

Boe was named president of Allstate in 1966 and chairman and chief executive officer in 1972. In 1982 he was named president of Sears, a post he held for two years.