Integrity, feistiness, compassion, common sense — these are the qualities The Star News of Medford used in describing long-time leader Robert “Bob” Anderson, upon his death in July 2011.
The Star News publisher and general manager from 1975 to 1992, Anderson lived to age 88. Although he retired in 1992, Bob continued to write his “Common ‘Tater” column for the paper until 1997, spurring controversy, debate and community awareness, all things needed to make a healthy community.
Bob was born on Oct. 25, 1922, in Crosby, Minn. to Elmer L. Anderson and Alice M. Cunningham. He graduated from Crosby-Ironton High School in 1940. On Jan. 3, 1948, he married to Peggy LeBlanc Anderson. Together they had seven children, 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren
Bob was a WWII Veteran in Air Offensive Europe, Normandy and Rhineland campaigns as a B-17 waist gunner. His active duty ended in September 1945. A lifelong newspaperman, he worked with his father on the Crosby Minnesota Courier after the war and owned newspapers in Menomonee Falls and Sauk Prairie through 1962, then owned the Gulf Beach Journal in St. Pete Beach, Fla., until 1964, before serving the Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce. He became foreman of the Madison production department of the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times in 1967. Robert moved to Medford in 1975 to be publisher and general manager of The Star News, retiring in 1992.
