In loving memory of
Donald Anderson
MADISON
Donald Warren Anderson of Naples, Florida was reunited with his beloved wife of 65 years, Marilyn (Dixon), on April 12, 2018 at Agrace Hospice in Fitchberg. Don affected lives in many ways through his generosity, compassion and guidance, from the board room to the trout stream.
Don met Marilyn at Ripon College, his alma mater, in the spring of 1940 on Friendship weekend. They were married December 12, 1942. For the next four years they traveled to Army postings. Upon his discharge from the Service, they returned to Madison, Wisconsin where Don continued graduate work in the Business School at the University of Wisconsin.
He was a co-founder of Dairyland Insurance, and upon retirement from the company, he and his brother Robert started Viking Insurance. In 1982 he sold Viking Insurance. Later he became a partner with John Zimbrick in Dane County Title and was joined subsequently by Tom Rostad.
Don continued investing in and serving on various profit and nonprofit boards in both Wisconsin and Florida throughout his life. His life of giving of both himself and his financial resources has led to building over 100 homes for Habitat for Humanity in Naples, Florida; funding the residential facility for Agrace Hospice (originally known as the Don and Marilyn Hospice Center); the Carbone Cancer Center Graft versus Host Disease program; and programs and buildings for Ripon and Edgewood Colleges. He lived is life according to Churchill's principle of "we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give".
Among Don's other passions were a love of all things wild. At the age of 97 you were more likely to find Don fly-fishing on a salmon stream in Alaska, bow hunting on his farm, or rowing a drift boat down the Madison River in Montana. His skills in the outdoors were legendary bordering on mythical. Don's willingness to share his knowledge and love of the outdoors with the young and old made him an icon in the wilderness.
He is survived by his children Susan Ruedisili, Martha and Andrew Van de Ven, Karry and Nadine Anderson, Kathryn and Robert Switzky, and Ronald Anderson and Linda Metoxen; grandchildren Stephen Ruedisili and Anne Harbison, Robert and Heidi Ruedisili, James and Debra Van de Ven, John Van de Ven, Adam Switzky, Baylee Switzky and her fiancé Eric Brockman, Collin Switzky, Juniper Anderson, Sequoia Anderson, and Cypress Anderson; great-grandchildren Hanna Rose and Zachary Ruedisili, Charlotte Ruedisili, and Benjamin Van de Ven. Don was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Marilyn, son-in-law Lon Ruedisili and great-grandson Benjamin Stephen Ruedisili.
Visitation will be held at the Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Road, Madison on Wednesday, April 18, 2018 from 5 to 7 p.m. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, April 19, 2018 at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church, 518 North Franklin Street, Madison.
A reception will follow.
In lieu of flowers, Don would appreciate memorial gifts to the Carbone Cancer Center or Agrace Hospice Care Foundation.
Please share your memories.
Cress Funeral & Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Road Madison
(608) 238-3434
To read the full obituary, please click here: http://www.cressfuneralservice.com/obituary/252908/Donald-Anderson