Gerald Michael (Jerry) Anderson

Gerald Michael “Jerry” Anderson passed away on December 8, 2025, in Waco, Texas, at the age of 81. He was born on September 22, 1944, in Dallas, Texas. Jerry spent his early childhood living in the Bluffview neighborhood near downtown Dallas with his parents, James T. Anderson and Margaret M. O’Grady, and his three siblings. His father was President of Anderson Hotels System headquartered in the Mercantile Bank Building in downtown Dallas. His mother was a nurse and also an American Airlines flight attendant (“stewardess”) on DC-3s based in Chicago before she married. In the mid-1940s, Jerry’s father bought the Riter Ranch east of Dallas and moved the family there. Tragically, Jerry lost his mother in 1947 and his father in 1951. A paternal aunt in Texas became the legal guardian of Jerry and his siblings. He spoke often of his parents and cherished the memories he had of his father at the ranch and in Dallas. During high school, Jerry was active serving as Class Treasurer, playing trumpet in the band, and participating in track, basketball, the science club, and choral club. After graduating in 1962, he attended Baylor University where his siblings were also enrolled. He studied biology and chemistry (pre-dental/pre-med), as well as business management. One of his formative experiences was spending a summer traveling across Europe with friends. In later years, he enjoyed football games and tailgating, visiting his daughter during her time as a student there, and attending monthly lunches with his fraternity brothers. Jerry graduated from Baylor University in 1966 and began a twenty-year career with Texas Instruments with roles in Operations, Marketing, and Sales within the Semiconductor Group, as well as in Sales in the Data Systems Group. After several years at the Dallas headquarters, he accepted a two-year expatriate assignment to the United Kingdom in the late 1960s as an Operations Manager. It was there that he met his beautiful wife, Claire, who also worked for Texas Instruments. In the early 1970s, Jerry returned to Dallas not only with his wife, but also a year old daughter, a dog, and an MGB GT sports car. He moved into Marketing and relocated to Houston where they welcomed their son, Michael. In 1972, Jerry moved into Sales and transferred to New York for a two year assignment. He returned to Houston and while working full-time and raising a family, he earned a Master’s degree in Strategic Marketing. In 1979, he moved back to Dallas for senior management roles in Sales and Marketing. In 1980, he started and managed a technical marketing and sales training program in the Semiconductor Group for recent computer science and engineering graduates and led the program for three years. He had fond memories of his “sales trainees” and watched them climb into top leadership roles at Texas Instruments and other companies in the electronics industry. In the mid-1980s, he moved to Austin serving as National Sales Manager in the Data Systems group working with artificial intelligence products. In 1985, Jerry left Texas Instruments and moved his family to the Broadmoor area in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he became Director of Sales at Honeywell for advanced semiconductor systems. In the late 1980s, they relocated to Northern California after he was hired as Director of North American Sales for a Silicon Valley startup, Zoran Corporation. He ultimately returned to North Texas where he spent the remainder of his career in executive sales and marketing roles, working with high-tech startups, and serving as president of his sales and marketing consulting business. Over the course of his high-tech career, Jerry traveled more than three million miles across the United States and internationally to Europe and Asia. In the late 1990s, Jerry and Claire stepped away from the corporate world for a slower pace of life but retirement proved short-lived. They purchased a business in 2002 and spent the next twenty years working closely together as owners and operators of an award-winning, full-service marina until it was sold in 2022. Jerry was very intelligent, outgoing, driven, competitive, and had high expectations for himself and those around him. He inherited his passion for business and sales from his father and his love of traveling from both of his parents. Jerry enjoyed meeting and talking to everyone, laughing, offering advice, entertaining friends, and sharing stories about his childhood, travels, and professional life. He lived an active life enjoying golf, boating, water skiing, snow skiing throughout the United States, elk hunting in the Rockies, and scuba diving in Bali, Grand Cayman, the Bahamas, and Mexico. He attended his children’s athletic and music events, and served as head coach of his daughter’s soccer team for two seasons. Jerry and his wife shared their interest in other countries and cultures with their children. One of his most memorable trips was spending the summer of 1985 traveling throughout Europe with his family and visiting in-laws in the United Kingdom. Jerry earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas in 1966, and a Presidents and Key Executives (PKE 38) MBA from the Pepperdine University Graziadio Business School in Malibu, California in 1979. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Claire; his daughter, Claire Anderson; his sister, Maureen Anderson; his brother, Dr. Robert Anderson (Sheri); his half-sister, Kathleen (Dr. Byron Bonebreak); his half-brother, Mark Anderson; several nieces and nephews; and many O’Grady and Anderson cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents; his son, Michael; his brother, James Anderson; and his half-brother, Paul Anderson. A private committal service will be held at a future date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice.

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Gerald Michael (Jerry) Anderson

September 22, 1944 - December 8, 2025