Roger Y. Anderson

Roger Y. Anderson



Roger Yates Anderson died in Poughkeepsie, NY on Jan. 9, 2021 at the age of 93. Born on Oct. 4, 1927 in Oak Park, IL, he was the youngest son of John Bernard and Virginia Wolfe Anderson. Growing up with siblings Robert (Bob), Mary Ann, and Barbara, Roger spent most of his free time outdoors, playing in woods and lakes, and building things with his hands. Not a good student in his early years, he dropped out of high school and joined the Navy at age 17, receiving an honorable discharge less than a year later as WWII came to an end. With the benefit of the GI bill, he attended Beloit College for two years, where he met his wife Lucille (Lee) Hubbell, and then worked in his father's print shop while starting a family. Not content with the life of a printer, he later enrolled at the University of Arizona, where he took a geology class that changed his life. Roger went on to earn a PhD from Stanford University and was awarded a faculty position in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico where he taught and supervised graduate students for ~45 years. He was a beloved professor and a pioneer in the study of Earth's climate system history. His research took him to sites across the United States as well as to Antarctica, and he held several patents on scientific equipment he invented to further his study of sedimentation in lakes.

In addition to his love of geology, Roger had a deep commitment to peace and social justice, joining John Lewis and other civil rights icons on the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. He campaigned actively against the Vietnam War and was the faculty sponsor of the UNM Students for a Democratic Society chapter. Later in his life, he fought against the Iraq War and marched in racial justice protests, including a recent rally in honor of George Floyd in Poughkeepsie where he was living with his life partner of the last 24 years, Kirsten Menking, and their adopted son Blake. A more complete biography can be found at https://tinyurl.com/rogermem.

Roger is survived by his life partner, Kirsten Menking; his sister, Barbara Danly; his children Mary Anderson, Josephine Anderson, David Anderson, Peter Anderson, Daniel Anderson, Michael Anderson, Mark Collins, and Blake Menking; his grandchildren Dominic Calvani, Torello Calvani, Sarah Johnson, Noah Harris, Susannah Slocum, Aubrey Anderson, William Anderson, Katherine Anderson, Peter Anderson, Palmer Anderson, Eleanor Anderson, and David Anderson; and great-grandchildren Mary Wallace Calvani, Sofia Calvani, Hayden Calvani, Alex Calvani, Ariel Johnson, Eliyanah Johnson, Jaliyah Johnson, Eli Harris, Evan Harris, Callan Slocum, Willow Anderson, and Henry Anderson. His warm and loving nature and his wonderful sense of humor will be missed by all who knew him.