Joe Allbritton was born on December 29, 1924, in D'Lo, Mississippi, the sixth of seven children.
Allbritton served in the United States Navy during World War II.
In 1992, he sold the Los Angeles based Pierce National Life Insurance Co. that he had owned since 1958.
[4] He resigned due to prostate cancer during investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission involving oil money from Equatorial Guinea at the same time that Riggs was facing broader charges of money laundering; his son Robert assumed the chairman position after his resignation; the bank was later purchased by PNC in 2005.
Organizations they donated to including the Baylor College of Medicine, the Allbritton Art Institute, the Oxford Scholars, and the establishment of the International School of Law, which has become the George Mason University School of Law.