Forrest Anderson
Oct. 7, 1931-Aug. 16, 2024
Portola Valley, California
Forrest Anderson died peacefully at his home on Friday, August 16 at the age of 92. A fourth-generation San Francisco native, he attended Town School, Lowell High School, Dartmouth College, and the UC Berkeley College of Engineering.
After graduating from Officer Candidate School in the Army Corps of Engineers in 1954, Forrest married Alice Charleston, also a native San Franciscan. The young couple’s honeymoon was a road trip to Fort Bragg, North Carolina where Forrest was first stationed. Six months later they were transferred to Stuttgart, Germany, where their first son was born.
Following the Army, Forrest returned to Cal to study Civil Engineering. After working for several years, he started his own engineering construction company in 1963, focusing on unique or unusual projects. Anderson Pacific reinforced the foundations supporting the incline section of the Bay Bridge after the 1989 earthquake, participated in the Golden Gate Bridge conversion from concrete decks and girders to steel sections, and tightened 12,000 bolts 155 feet above ground in the hangars at Moffett Field. Forrest worked hard, loved what he did, and was extremely proud that the company he founded is now a third-generation family business.
Forrest enjoyed nature, especially time at Lake Tahoe with family and friends—hiking, water-skiing, and snow-skiing. His love for the outdoors brought him to many summits around Lake Tahoe as well as the Matterhorn in Switzerland which he climbed with his daughter in 1998.
Forrest served on the boards of Castilleja and Phillips Brooks Schools and the UC Berkeley School of Engineering Alumni Society. In his retirement, Forrest enjoyed traveling the world with Alice, playing golf, tennis, and bridge and attending the activities and sporting events of their grandchildren. This took the duo to football stadiums across the country. Being loyal grandparents, they even converted to Stanford fans for a few years (Go Bears)!
Remembered for his wit and sense of humor, a friend recently said, “You always knew when he got a twinkle in his eye that something, probably very dry and enormously amusing, was forthcoming.” The love and enjoyment of family and friends was always paramount and is a great legacy. These memories sustain all who knew and loved him.
Always enjoying a new project and a challenge, Forrest took up the sport of rowing at 90 and was sculling on the bay weekly until just before he passed.
Forrest is survived by Alice, his wife of 70 years, and their three children, Tim (Suzette), Peter (Anne), and Lisa (Daniel), and seven grandchildren who knew him as Pa—Forrest, Brooke, Michael, Kevin (Katie), and Jack Anderson, and Alice and Charlotte Hill.
In remembrance of Forrest, the family kindly requests donations be made in his name to Christ Church Portola Valley & Woodside, 815 Portola Road, Portola Valley, CA 94028 or to a charity of your choice. A private family service was held.
