Name: Visitation for Lowell Anderson
Start: 2014-11-29T19:00:00.000Z
End: 2014-11-29T22:00:00.000Z
Location: Robert E. Evans Funeral Home

Dr. Lowell Bruce Anderson ("Bruce") died peacefully in Bowie, Maryland on November 23rd at the age of 71. He passed away in his sleep, after doing two of his favorite things - watching football with his brother Barry and eating an ice cream sundae. Bruce is survived by his children Bryan Anderson (wife Victoria) and Aimee Harmelink (husband Chris); his grandchildren Zack, Josh, Leigha and Jacob; and, his siblings Barrett Anderson (wife Lani) and Mark Anderson (wife Patricia). Bruce was born was born in Chicago, IL on August 12, 1943 to Anna Anderson (nee Armbruster) and Lowell Anderson. He grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and had a lot of great memories with his brothers playing sports. He was especially known for making rules for games they invented. He graduated from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, IL. He was accepted to some of the best Universities in the country, such as Harvard, Cal Tech and M.I.T. He chose Johns Hopkins in Maryland (he may have had a premonition that his kids would love their childhood in Maryland). He received his Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins and received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Northwestern University. He was a member of Tau Beta Pi, was elected to the Society of Sigma Xi and was awarded the Royal E. Cabell fellowship. Bruce was a captain in the Army, and served his country in the Vietnam War receiving a Bronze Star Medal and the Army Commendation Medal. He worked as an Operations Research Analyst from 1971-2009 for the Institute for Defense Analyses in Virginia. During his career, he actually had a hand in capturing a KGB agent (which he wasn't permitted to talk about for almost 20 years!). Bruce was known for being insanely smart; his love of coffee (his license plate was "Caffeine"); love of ice cream and cookies; yelling "ZERO, ZERO" at the beginning of Wally Ball games; watching the Redskins; coming to every high school softball game of Aimee's (and, sprinting to the field to make sure that she had her bat in time for her first at bat); teaching his kids how to play baseball, lacrosse and other sports; taking his kids to Johns Hopkins lacrosse games (and championships); being licensed to marry couples (and even married a couple in a hot air balloon); competing in the egg tosses at Green Acres pool; getting a perfect score on his ACTs; never getting a grade lower than an "A" before college (except in German) and, of course, the love of his children. He will be greatly missed. Thank you to Bryan and Vickie Anderson, Zack, Josh and Leigha for taking such good care of him in his last years. It is more appreciated than you'll ever know. An open house/visitation for Bruce will be held on Saturday, November 29th at Robert E. Evans Funeral Home 16000 Annapolis Road Bowie Maryland from 2:00-5:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Parkinson.org. Bruce's ashes will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery at a future date.

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Published by Chicago Tribune from Nov. 26 to Nov. 27, 2014.

Memories and Condolences
for Lowell Anderson

4 Entries

don Henderson

October 3, 2019

I went to Mt. Carmel with Bruce and Johns Hopkins, benefiting from his kindness, loyalty, honesty, and unceasingly positive spirit, commitment to fairness and love of fun. He was a great friend. Two incidents come to mind, both from the Hopkins years. One, he bought a car, a VW, which several Chicago students piled into for an abbreviated trip home for Thanksgiving. All of us were anxious for as much time home as possible, but no one more than Bruce. We flew the interstate, rain, snow, any obstacle notwithstanding, Bruce intent on seeing Beverly as soon and as long as possible. The other memory was a sports one. We used to gather to play pickup basketball games at an outdoor court a block from the dorms where we lived. This is what made Hopkins special. We'd play whenever we got our group together, which wasn't easy given how much studying was required, the pre-med and engineering students much more than us liberal arts slackers. Once we made our way to the court while Hopkins was playing a lacrosse game, the stadium right next to the court. We weren't anti-lacrosse, far from it. The point is at Hopkins, you just did what you wanted, what fit into your schedule. Basketball at that time just happened to be when we could all get together. The cheering in the background I supposed some of us fantasized was for us when we made a basket. Unlikely. Finally, we used to play touch football on the grass field in front of the dorms. On one play, Bruce dove for a ball that was meant for him. It was too long, but he went airborne, stretching to make a spectacular catch and holding onto the ball as he collided with the turf. Everyone complimented him on the catch, both sides. A moment of athletic glory, which he took in with usual modesty.

August 9, 2016

My condolences to Bruce's family, his siblings Barry and Mark, and his children and grandchildren.

I never met a nicer, more gentle and honest person than your brother, father and grandfather. I was privileged to be a classmate at Mt. Carmel and Johns Hopkins, and remember well our fun pick-up games of football and basketball with mutual friends and acquaintances, and mad trips in Bruce's VW to Chicago for Thanksgiving. If Bruce could have made that car go 120 mph on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, he would have.

I am so proud of his work for the country; his resting place at Arlington is well deserved. One of his few failures in life was in getting me to understand Operations Research. Bruce was one of the few Carmel graduates to venture outside the field of law
but no one valued and honored our liberties more than Bruce.

Heidi Brown

December 4, 2014

Thanks, Bruce, for many happy memories.

J W

November 27, 2014

May the God of all comfort strengthen the entire family during this time of sorrow. Those who die God keeps in his memory because they are precious in his eyes. (Psalms 116:15)

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