Kay Evelyn Anderson Rizzo

Kay Evelyn Anderson Rizzo, 81, a retired certified public accountant, passed away January 29, 2022, at her Metairie home. A Michigan native, Kay was born in Detroit on December 19, 1940, to Harvey Arthur Anderson and Grace DuBois Anderson, and after their deaths, was raised by her uncle and aunt Edmund and Helen Anderson of Romeo.

A member of an automotive industry family, she learned to drive at age 11, sail the Great Lakes and earned a pilot’s license in her teens. An exceptional student, Kay did the unexpected and came south to attend college at Tulane, where she joined Phi Mu sorority. At Tulane, she met a fellow student, A.J., the love of her life and, a day after graduating in biology, married him. After the births of her daughter, Laura, and son, Steve, Kay earned a MS in Biology at Tulane and completed the coursework for a PhD. She taught at Alcee Fortier and Isidore Newman high schools before the family moved to California. After another move, Kay earned a MS in Accounting from the University of Illinois, graduated second in her class and became a C.P.A. When the family returned to New Orleans, Kay worked for a local accounting firm and then the national firm of Touche Ross. She later opened her own practice, specializing in tax accounting, after earning another masters at UNO in that area.

An avid seeker of knowledge, intensely interested in how the universe worked and how people thought, Kay also studied theology at Loyola, converted to Catholicism, and for a few years was active at St. Edward the Confessor parish and in other church activities, including teaching RCIA. Throughout her life, as a woman working in traditionally male fields, Kay dealt with sexism and misogyny, though her intelligence and work were recognized in numerous fellowships and awards, including being named a University of Illinois Accounting Alumnus of the Year, and other professional honors. A voracious reader, an enthusiastic crocheter, an Anglophile and a lover of pepperoni pizza, Kay was also known for her love of conversation, but never small talk.

She is survived by her daughter, Laura Rizzo Ricks, and her granddaughter, Emma Hadley Ricks.

She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Antoinette Menetre, her brother- and sister-in-law, Peter and Gayle Rizzo, and members of the extended Rizzo, Marquer and Menetre families, as well as close family friends, Tom Sternberg and Chloe Post. She was predeceased by her husband of 43 years, Anthony John “A.J.” Rizzo, her son, Steven David Rizzo, and her brother, Robert Anderson.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Memorial Mass at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Friday, February 18, 2022 at 11:00AM. A visitation will be held at the funeral home beginning at 10:00AM. The interment will follow the Mass at Metairie Cemetery. If you are unable to attend the Mass, please visit Mrs. Rizzo’s obituary online at www.lakelawnmetairie.com, where a link for the livestream will be provided.

In lieu of flowers, donations to one of the organizations that Kay gave to so generously over her life, including Childfund (www.childfund.org), Kiva (www.kiva.org), and the ASPCA (www.aspca.org), are welcome.

To view and sign the guest book, please visit www.lakelawnmetairie.com