Robert L. Anderson, WWII veteran, highly accomplished trial lawyer and man of the greatest integrity, died at his Santa Rosa home on April 24, 2026. Born at home in Oakland, California on February 20, 1924, Bob grew up in San Leandro with his mother, Florence Anderson, and his grandparents, who operated a chicken ranch during the Depression. Bob attended Lincoln grammar school and San Leandro Junior and High School, enjoying a free-wheeling youth of bike rides — long rifle strapped over the handlebars — with his adventurous friends. He was High School student body president, an Eagle Scout, and represented his high school at Boys State. He worked as custodian of the San Leandro library and later as a shipyard flanger at Moore Drydock.

Bob enlisted in the Army on December 2, 1942, passing through the many steps of aviator training to become a photo reconnaissance pilot in the Ninth Air Force in Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge. In his 19 missions over France, Belgium, and Germany, Bob was a lucky survivor. His war experiences were among the most powerful of his lifetime.

On discharge from active duty, Bob resumed his education at UC Berkeley, where he met, courted, and married Elisabeth Olney. She preceded him in death in 2014. They were lifelong dance partners. Bob graduated from what was then called Hastings College of the Law in 1951. He served as a deputy DA in Alameda County under J. Frank Coakley before becoming a member of the law firm Rankin, Anderson and Geary in Oakland. In 1963 he formed a partnership with his great friend Thomas D. Geary. Bob later had the good fortune to have as his partners Pat Galloway and David Lucchese, in Oakland and Walnut Creek, with a practice specializing in the defense of health care providers, mostly physicians.

Bob was a member of ABOTA, admitted in 1975, and was listed in Best Lawyers of America's first edition. He tried over 100 jury trials in his career. Bob was also a member of the Family Club in San Francisco, joining in 1978.