Archives West Finding Aid

G. Stanley McAllister (1900-1970) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 10, 1900, to George Stanley and Helen Janette Maeser McAllister. Stanley was the grandson of Duncan McNeil McAllister, a Scottish immigrant that settled in Salt Lake City. His maternal grandfather was Karl G. Maeser, a German educator and principal of Brigham Young Academy.

Stanley received his early education at public schools and at Latter-day Saints High School in Salt Lake City. He attended the University of Utah at various times during 1919-1925, Georgetown University in 1924-1925, and New York University in 1926-1928. He interrupted his studies, to serve from 1920-1923 as a missionary in the Eastern States Mission for the LDS Church. During His labors in the mission field he served as the mission's secretary under LDS historian B.H. Roberts, who was the mission president at the time. In 1924, soon after returning to college, he was appointed Secretary of the U.S. Senate Public Building and Grounds Commission of the District of Columbia, a commission of which Reed Smoot, a Senator from Utah, was Chairman.

In 1926 Stanley married Donnette Kesler, daughter of Alonzo Pratt and Donnette Smith Kesler, and a niece of LDS Church President Joseph Fielding Smith. After 1926, Stanley worked in New York City, serving with the realty firm of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. In 1929 Stanley went to work for Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) as Director of Buildings and Plant Operations until 1946. During this time Stanley was instrumental in helping to secure for the CBS Radio Network the weekly nationwide broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In 1946, Stanley left CBS and accepted a position as vice president and general manager of Lord & Taylor, a New York City department store. Stanley remained with Lord & Taylor until 1959 when he joined the parent company, Associated Dry Goods Corporation, as Vice-President of Properties and Operation Research, the post he held until the end of his life.

In 1949 Stanley's wife Donnette died and in 1951 he was married to Adelaide Neilson Vernon until his death. Stanley died of a heart attack on 20 June 1970. While stake president in New York for the LDS Church he was instrumental in helping to establish the Mormon Pavilion at the New York World's Fair in 1964-1965, which made a lasting contribution to the worldwide missionary program of the church. Stanley served as a director for Bonneville International Corporation, the radio and TV holding company for the LDS Church and Radio New York Worldwide. He was a member of This is the Place Monument Commission for the This is the Place State Park in Salt Lake City. He also served at various times as a Director of Allied Youth Inc. and The Advisory Council of the American Mothers Committee. Stanley served on the White House Advisory Council on Education, representing New York State. He was also a charter member of the National Advisory Board of the Utah Symphony Orchestra.