Jay S. Anderson

1939 - 2017

Jay S. Anderson

Ventura, CA

Jay S. Anderson was born in Seattle in 1939. He passed away at home on hospice care in Ventura, CA, on September 30 at the age of 78, after 13 years with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Jay grew up across the street from Green Lake, in a time when Nordstrom's was just a shoe store that x-rayed customers' feet before fitting them with shoes. When he was a boy, he swam across Green Lake and the Hood Canal. A graduate of Lincoln High School, he went on to earn his B.A. in Architecture from the University of Washington. When his Hawaii fraternity brothers at UW went back home, he decided he would join them. He worked as an architect for several firms, eventually establishing his own firm, Anderson Associates. He approached negotiations on a win-win basis, leaving a little on the table, and always tried to practice business ethically.

In 1987 he literally "bought the farm" ?retiring to 40 acres in rural Southwest Washington in a town called Pe Ell (pop. 600). As a gentleman farmer, he grew hay, raised salmon and had five pet ducks. He learned to make his own wine and to hunt for deer. He returned to Hawaii to live several times, where he continued to enjoy hiking, swimming and fishing on the good ship Meleana with his buddies. Those buddies recall him as an adventurous spirit and a bit of a character, especially on some wild crossings to Molokai and in the Alenuihaha Channel.

When he decided to retire for a second time, he moved to Ventura, California, convinced it offered the best golfing weather on the West Coast. And it did. Two of his three holes-in-one were on Ventura courses; the other was in Ireland with his two sons.

Throughout his life he practiced Tibetan Buddhism under the guidance of his beloved Lama Karma Rinchen at the Dharma Center in Nuuanu.

He is grieved, celebrated and remembered by his wife Marsha (nee Petersen), son Max and granddaughter Amelia of Seattle, son Mark (Caroline) and grandsons Ethan and Tate of Honolulu, stepchildren Geoff and Melissa Rapp, as well as his sister, Judy Morgan. He is also survived by his nephew John Morgan and niece Molly Apel and her family.

A memorial service is planned for February in Honolulu. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to Planned Parenthood or to Kagyu Thegchen Ling Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center in Honolulu. His body was donated to UCLA Medical School; his spirit is off on his next adventure.