Thomas Gordon Anderson

Thomas Gordon Anderson (77) of Naperville, died on December 22, 2024 in his home. Tom was raised in Longview, TX, and graduated from North Texas State with a degree in Chemistry. He attended University of Wisconsin at Madison for graduate school, but was drafted into the US Army in 1970 during the Vietnam war, shortly after arriving in WI. He completed his service in the Army in San Antonio, teaching entomology to ground troops so they could recognize poisonous or dangerous bugs in the jungle. After his service, he returned to Madison, a town he truly loved, and completed his Masters and his PhD in Physical Chemistry. He was a member of UWs Hoofer's Outing Club, participating in many of the club's outdoor activities like boating and camping. Tom then finished his post-doc work at MIT in Cambridge, MA in Laser Spectroscopy. Afterwards, he settled in Naperville, IL and worked as a research chemist at Amoco/Standard Oil for 18 years while he raised his 2 boys. Later in life, he finally became a teacher, which is what he had really always wanted, and he excelled at it, teaching at Jane Addams high school in Chicago until his retirement in 2016. He loved his 3 children and grandchildren, nature and the outdoors, camping, coaching his boys' baseball teams when they were young, watching Badger football, basketball, and hockey. He loved to listen to The Grateful Dead and Willie Nelson, and was always sharing his awe and wonder about discoveries in science and space exploration.

He is survived and will always be remembered by his loving family: daughter Jennifer Anderson of New York City, son Peter Anderson (Elizabeth) of Appleton, WI, son Stephen Anderson (Jessica) of Auburn, WA, and his 6 grandchildren.