Allan Hoover; President’s Son Was Rancher, Financier

Allan Hoover, the son of President Herbert Hoover and a prominent mining engineer, rancher and financier, has died. He was 86.

Hoover died Thursday in Portola Valley, Calif., after a short illness.

Known throughout his life as a quiet and loyal aide to his father, Hoover served as president of the Hoover Foundation and for 50 years was active in leadership of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

In 1935, the younger Hoover bought his father’s birthplace in West Branch, Iowa, for $4,500, restored it and opened it to the public. The home is incorporated into the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, which houses the personal papers of both the former President and First Lady Lou Henry Hoover.

Allan Henry Hoover was born in London on July 17, 1907, and graduated from Palo Alto High School, Stanford and Harvard Business School.

He founded one of California’s first agribusiness enterprises, encompassing several ranches in the San Joaquin Valley. His mining interests extended throughout the United States and abroad. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hoover served as a financial adviser to the Rockefeller family and was a partner in the securities firm Lazard Freres.

He was a longtime board member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Margaret Coberly Hoover; three children and six grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday in the United Methodist Church, West Branch, Iowa.