Does the Phrase “All of” Bother You?

I posed the following question to my colleague, Paul Stregevsky.

Question
Consider the following sentence:

“Deliveries have shown big potential, making up almost all of Whole Foods’s growth.”

As an editor, I would strike “of.”

What do you think? Would you let it be?

Answer
I would let it be, and so would Bryan Garner. From Garner’s Modern English Usage:

In two circumstances, all of is the better choice.

1. When a pronoun follows “all of them.”

2. When a possessive noun follows. For example: “Beyond all of Jones’ ego-stroking maneuvers and incessant need for attention, this is what he is talking about.”

Of course, because this is Bryan Garner, he points out two exceptions to #1: When the pronoun is serving as an adjective — either possessive (“all my belongings”) or demonstrative (“all that jazz”).