Donald M. Allen, 92; Poetry Editor Published Acclaimed Anthology

Donald M. Allen, 92, a poetry editor who edited Jack Kerouac and published an acclaimed anthology of American poetry, died Aug. 29 in San Francisco of pneumonia.

Born in Cherokee, Iowa, Allen earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English literature from the University of Iowa and began his career teaching English.

He made a name for himself as an editor at Grove Press in New York where he published the acclaimed anthology “The New American Poetry 1945-60,” featuring writers from the Beat Generation and the New York and Black Mountain schools.

Allen edited Kerouac’s “Mexico City Blues” and the San Francisco issue of Evergreen Review, which contained the first separate printing of Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl.”

He also founded two influential literary presses, Grey Fox Press and Four Seasons Foundation, which published Gary Snyder, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Robert Duncan and Lew Welch, among others. Allen also published works on philosophy and Buddhism and seminal gay and lesbian titles.