Lt. Col. Bob Anderson at his 90th birthday party, in front of an F4U Corsair, the plane he flew in World War II.
Lt. Col. Bob Anderson at 22 years old.
In memoriam: Lt. Col. Bob Anderson
Lt. Col. Bob Anderson, a decorated World War II veteran and Del Mar resident, died of natural causes on Oct. 29, 2009. He was 91.
In a 37-year military career, Anderson earned various honors including the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Silver Stars and the Purple Heart. He was a fighter pilot on the Japanese front, dive-bombing, strafing and defending boats against Kamikazes.
"You just couldn't meet a greater patriot," said granddaughter Allie Dixon. "As the son of Swedish immigrants, he embodied everything about the American dream."
Robert Anderson was born May 11, 1918, in Connecticut. He moved with his family to San Diego at the age of five when his father, a builder, saw an opportunity to help develop Balboa Park.
Anderson, a surfer and horseback rider, attended Hoover High School, where he played baseball with longtime friend and Hall of Famer Ted Williams.
He enrolled at San Diego State in 1936, becoming quarterback of the freshman football team. He then transferred to UC Davis, where he continued to play sports while studying animal agriculture. It was there he earned a pilots license.
"He was a very busy guy," Dixon said. "I think he would have been the stud on campus."
Despite interest from three of the eight NFL teams, Anderson chose to enlist as a fighter pilot in World War II. He flew F4U Corsairs, which were the most powerful and feared fighter jets by enemy forces.
Anderson is noted for a daring escape and landing after taking heavy damage over Kyushu. Despite assurances from fellow soldiers that they would rescue him once on the ground, he chose not to eject due to fear of becoming a prisoner of war, or being killed on the way down.
Anderson instead flew the plane back to his base at Okinawa, making a perfect landing. His Black Sheep squadron was loosely portrayed by NBC in the 1970s series "Baa Baa Black Sheep."
After the war, Anderson developed a variety news show for a Sacramento-area NBC affiliate. His wife Ruth Edlefsen, who passed-away in 2006, gave birth to three daughters.
After earning a law degree from the University of Pacific in the 1960s, Anderson served as an administrative judge for the State Board of Equalization until the 1990s. He arranged for his trials to be in San Diego so he could spend a week each month with his daughter's family in Solana Beach.
Anderson's son-in-law Bill Dixon describes him as quiet, "kind of reserved," but the way you'd imagine a judge for the state board of equalization to be.
"He stayed at our house a lot down here when he was trying cases," Bill Dixon said. "He would talk about the military if you prompted him or if something came up but he didn't sit around and talk about it. But when he did you'd go 'Wow! Are you kidding?'"
Even with a lifetime of awe-inspiring stories, Bill Dixon said that when someone met Anderson, he would be a lot more inclined to ask about you than talk about himself.
"He always wore a cowboy hat and cowboy boots and had his golf clubs in his trunk," former colleague Gordon Adelman said of the "Cowboy Judge."
In his most famous case, Anderson ruled that televangelist Jimmy Swaggart must pay sales tax on merchandise sold. The case went to the Supreme Court, which upheld his decision.
"He wasn't the kind of person that was boastful," said Joe Kellejian, who got to know Anderson during his stays in Solana Beach. "It's seldom that you'll meet somebody that has not only served his country in the way that he has, it's seldom that you'll meet somebody that is so accomplished as he is, and you'll seldom meet somebody that has been revered by his family and loved by his family as much as Bob Anderson."
Anderson moved to Del Mar in 2004, where he was honored for his military service at the San Diego County Fair in 2007. He will be recognized at the California State Assembly, and will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on April 2, 2010.
He is survived by his brother, three daughters, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Jonathan Horn Jonathan Horn covers Del Mar and Solana Beach. E-mail him with comments or questions.
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