Buist Murfee Anderson

Buist Murfee Anderson, 97, of Farmington, died on Saturday (August 10, 2002). He was born at home in Marion, AL, on November 17, 1904, the son of Edward Buist and Mary Agnes Anderson. He was educated at The Marion Military Institute, the University of Virginia, and the Yale Law School. He became a member of the Connecticut, Alabama, and United States Supreme Court Bars. He was predeceased by his wife of 64 years, Dorothy Crawford Anderson, but is survived by his daughter, Mary Jeanne Anderson Jones; two sons, David Crawford Anderson and Dudley Buist Anderson, their wives, Karen McK. Anderson and Lisa S. Anderson; eight grandchildren; and 14 great grandchildren. He joined the Legal Department of the then Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (now CIGNA Corp.) in October 1929 and rose to become the company's Vice President, Counsel, and Corporate Secretary before retiring in 1969. He immediately became Of Counsel to the law firm of Murtha, Cullina, Richter and Pinney, serving there until his second retirement, in 1982, in the meanwhile sitting on the Board of Directors of the Colonial Life and Accident Company from 1972 until 1990. Besides practicing law he worked with Professor William R. Vance on the second edition of Handbook on the Law of Insurance, completely revised Professor Vance's work as the third edition of Handbook on the Law of Insurance, and then wrote his own Anderson on Life Insurance. He served as Chairman of the Legal Section of the American Life Convention and as President of the Association of Life Insurance Counsel. In 1993, the latter Association established the Buist M. Anderson Distinguished Service award in his honor and made him its first recipient. For many years he edited "Legal Notes" for "Transactions" of the Actuarial Society of America, now known as the Society of Actuaries. Over the years he was actively involved in several landmark life insurance cases heard before the United States Supreme Court. He was a member of the Hartford Golf Club. Posthumously he will be awarded The Marion Military Institute's Distinguished Alumnus Award. The James T. Pratt Funeral Service is in charge of arrangements. A memorial service will be held at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church on Friday, August 16, at 2 p.m. There will be no calling hours; instead the family will receive their friends at the church immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Buist Murfee Anderson Faculty Endowment for Marion Military Institute, c/o The Marion Military Institute, Marion, AL 36756.