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Knack for Connecting

Joe Ryan Allen was one of those guys who still had his friends from first grade. His brother-in-law described him as "the family ambassador" because of his knack for connecting with people.

Mr. Allen, 39, had done well in his career as a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. But the centerpiece of his life was his many friends and his family ‹ a younger sister, three older brothers, six nieces and nephews.

His sister, Jennifer D'Auria, said Mr. Allen was single and thinking about settling down after seven years in Los Angeles trying to be an actor, and many more years of being an inveterate world traveler. "He did everything he wanted to do," Ms. D'Auria said. "He was always out with friends, he was always getting together with the family."

He was her rock, she said, when their mother died of cancer last year.

"He would be depressed because other people around him had problems; they weren't his problems," said Robert Diodato, his best friend. They grew up in Bronxville together and met in fourth grade. "He was one of those friends you speak to four or five times a day. He left a tremendous void in a lot of people's lives."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on October 14, 2001.