Funeral Details

Allan R. Drebin was born on March 17, 1936, to parents Harry and Dorothy Drebin. A longtime resident of Evanston, IL, Allan moved to Palo Alto, CA, in 2020.

Allan was the beloved husband of the late Ellen Drebin for 60 years. He is the cherished father of Donna (Ken) Abosch and Bob (Vanessa) Drebin; the loving grandfather of Danny Abosch (Mira Magrill), Michael (Emily) Abosch, Jordan Abosch, Ryan Drebin (Annie Wilks), Malaika (Trevor) Smyth, Alina Drebin, and Claire Drebin; and the adoring great-grandfather of four. He was the brother of the late Martin Drebin.

Allan began his teaching career as a professor at UCLA (1960-1965) and then taught at Cornell University (1965-1969) before returning home to the Chicago area to start a position that would span four decades as an accounting professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management (1969-2009). Upon his retirement in 2009, he became a Professor Emeritus of Accounting Information and Management at the Kellogg School.

Highlights of his remarkable career at the Kellogg School of Management include serving as chairman of the Accounting Information & Management Department for four years, creating an undergraduate accounting course, developing the idea for Northwestern University’s Residential College of Commerce and Industry (now called Ayers Residential College of Commerce and Industry), and traveling to Thailand many times as a visiting professor at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.

An arts enthusiast, Allan proudly supported the local arts community by serving as treasurer of the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation and on the boards of various professional and civic organizations, including the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Evanston Arts Council, the Hubbard Street Dance Company, the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Columbia College-Chicago, and the Music Advisory Board of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music.

Service Thursday 1:30PM at Memorial Park Cemetery, 9990 Gross Point Road, Skokie. To view the livestream, please visit our website. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals - Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com