ANDERSON ROBERT LEE ANDERSON (Age 85) "Bob" Of Clearwater, FL, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, May 22, 2012 surrounded by his family. His career spanned more than thirty years in engineering management operations-spent equally between Federal, State, and local government on the one hand, and private industry and service organizations on the other-directing over 100 projects in the U.S. and abroad for more than 70 clients in the manufacturing, service, and information processing fields. For two years he was general manager of operations at UNICEF in New York City. Before that he was based in Brussels, Belgium, working for Ideal Standard as coordinator for all its U.S. & European systems. For many years, he was a senior government analyst for the National Archives in Washington, DC. He also worked in the office of the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs writing public statements on U.S. foreign policy and as a Congressional liaison. He was commended for his contribution to President Dwight Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" speech. Born in Southbridge, MA to Charles August Anderson of Fall River, MA and Mildred Ohman Anderson of Stensviken, Sweden, Robert was an artistic soul who loved music, particularly Dixieland jazz. He was an extremely gifted vocalist who sang as a baritone soloist at Washington Cathedral and as a member of Dr. Robert "Doc" Howe Harmon's Traveling Troubadors, a select ensemble from George Washington University's glee club, that flew more than 100,000 miles in the 1950's entertaining the troops on remote overseas bases. He was singing solo in the Philippines when his performance was cut short because the Japanese had begun bombing Pearl Harbor. Robert served in the U.S. Army Air Corps and as a foreign affairs officer in the Army's Counter-Intelligence Reserve. He graduated from Williston Academy in Easthampton, MA, attended college at the University of Massachusetts in Fort Devens, and studied foreign affairs at GW. He was very proud of his two daughters, Kathleen Anderson, a New York literary agent, and Laura Anderson Wood, a singer-songwriter and RN. He is also survived by his stepson, Allan Stowell of Clearwater. Services will be held at Bayview Chapel, 2905 Gulf to Bay Blvd., Clearwater, FL 33759 on Saturday, June 23, 3 to 4 p.m., followed by a Dixieland reception at Bethel Fellowship Hall. As a memorial tribute, contributions can be made to the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, P.O. Box 3115, New York, NY 10163-3115 or by going to the website: http://www.louisarmstrongfoundation.org/ contribute.php
Published in The Washington Post on June 3, 2012
