Allen Gummer
Allen L. Gummer passed peacefully on June 21, 2025. He had just celebrated his 89th birthday and was days shy of his 65th wedding anniversary to his beloved wife, Dale L. Gummer.
Allen was born May 30, 1936, in Glen Cove, NY, to Swedish immigrant parents, Swen & Hulda Gummer. In 1946, the family moved to Cloverdale, where Allen’s father helped establish the first logging and sawmill operation in the area and later co-founded MGM Brakes.
Allen graduated Cloverdale High School in 1954 and then attended University of Oregon, where he and Dale Leuenberger, from San Francisco, were set up on a blind date. After graduating, Allen & Dale married in 1960 and settled in Cloverdale, where Allen went to work for MGM Brakes.
The company designed and manufactured spring brakes for heavy-duty vehicles; in his 40-plus years with MGM Brakes, Allen worked as a draftsman, engineer, and inventor, an executive who grew the business into a global leader, and eventually President, CEO, and co-owner before retiring in 2001. His legacy includes nine U.S. Patents and more than 200 related patents worldwide.
The Gummer family moved to Santa Rosa in 1970. Throughout his life, Allen was actively involved with and supported numerous organizations and charities.
A keen outdoorsman, Allen fished and hunted around the world. He visited more than 70 countries. He was an avid golfer who once played in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He was proud of his Scandinavian heritage and spoke fluent Swedish. He loved history books, western movies, and cowboy songs.
Most of all Allen loved his family, to whom he was “Farfar,” father’s father in Swedish.
Allen is survived by his wife, Dale, his children, Craig, Scott and his wife, Lisa, Kristin, and Todd, ten grandchildren, his sons- and daughters-in-law, three great-grandsons, his sister, Ellmarie, and her three children and their families.
Honoring Allen’s wishes, the family will hold a private service.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions in Allen’s memory be made to the charity of the donor’s choice or to the Memorial Hospital Foundation (givetomemorial.org).