Allan Marcus Atkinson McLean was born in Bristol, New Brunswick in 1891, the third of four children, a descendant of Dutch United Empire Loyalists on his mother's side, and Scots emigres to Cape Breton Island on his father's side. Along with elder brother Neil, he developed the Connors Bros. fish processing business that had been founded in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick by Louis and Patrick Connors a generation earlier. Much of the McLean brothers lives were spent developing the fishing industry centered around New Brunswick's Passamaquoddy Bay in southwestern New Brunswick. Largely focused on canning herring (clupea harengus), Connors Brothers also served the northeastern United States' Roman Catholic 'fish on Friday' market by shipping haddock and pollock to New England markets. Connors Brothers was sold to the Weston congomerate based in Toronto in 1966 (?) as Neil McLean reached and Allan McLean approached their 80th years. Both brothers were active in politics: Neil serving as president of the New Brunswick Liberal Party for many years and then as a senator; Allan ran for election to parliament in 1961 in the riding of Charlotte County, New Brunswick, was elected and re-elected twice until retiring in 1968. Allan McLean died in 1969.