Carl Hugo Anderson

ANDERSON, CARL HUGO, of Sandy Springs, Georgia, passed away in his sleep on February 5, 2022 at home. Carl was born in Paterson, New Jersey on December 2, 1937. He was the third child of Claus Eric Anderson and Augusta Juliana (“Julia”) Berg. Both emigrated from Sweden in 1916, where they knew each other in grammar school. His father worked for Westinghouse for many years. Before marrying and becoming a homemaker, his mother worked as a domestic for the Frick and other prominent Manhattan families. She died when he was three. His uncle and aunt (Hugo Vilhelm Palm and Ida Barbara Berg) moved from Long Island, where Hugo had a successful homebuilding business, to Pequannock Township, New Jersey to help raise Carl. He never forgot the sacrifices that they made for him.

He went to school at Butler High School in Butler, New Jersey, where he played football and lost a tooth blocking a punt, and graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. He served as a company commander in G Company and remained close to his fellow cadets his whole life. After graduation, he married the love of his life, Lyna Louise Estes of Gainesville, whom he met on a blind date arranged by his landlady and her grandmother, and started a family. He served in the Army Reserves during the early years of his marriage to Lyna.

Simultaneously, he also began a long and satisfying sales-and-marketing career in the textile industry, during which he worked for Milliken & Company (New York) and Riegel Textiles, Inc. (Atlanta). As the textile industry in the United States declined, Carl started The Anderson Group, Inc. (“AGI”), a marketing-and-sales-promotion company, in 1982 and sold it in 2002. AGI was a pioneer in mall placements and related sweepstakes. Over his career, Carl and his family resided in Montclair, New Jersey; Baldwin, Missouri; Wilton, Connecticut; and, finally, Sandy Springs, Georgia.

He was active in the Indian Guides, Pop Warner Football, Boy Scouts, and other organizations that his sons participated in. He valued education and had long supported Marist School, from which his sons, a niece, a nephew, a grandniece, and grandnephews graduated, and other educational institutions. In that vein, he mentored successive generations of cadets at The Citadel and was active in the Atlanta Citadel Club.

After retiring, he volunteered for St. Joseph Hospital’s Auxiliary, where he often transported visitors across campus for their appointments by golf cart, and at St. Joseph Hospital’s Mended Hearts group. Additionally, he worked for Enterprise Rental Car transporting the company's vehicles to different sites around North Georgia with other drivers in the retiree pool. He had a blast exploring Georgia and developing a whole new network of friends and acquaintances.

Carl cast a wide net and maintained an extensive family-and-friends network. He nurtured relationships between himself, his sons, and their Swedish relations, with whom they celebrated life’s milestones. His love of meeting new people, making new friends, and exploring the world did not stop with Sweden, but extended to other parts of the globe including much of Europe, some of Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He particularly enjoyed riverboat cruises to the great cities of northern Europe. His brother’s travels as a mate and captain in the merchant marines fostered his life-long enjoyment in sending and receiving postcards.

Despite their travels, Carl and Lyna spent most of their time away from Atlanta at their place at South Beach, Sea Pines, Hilton Head Island. He loved spending time there with family and friends over the past 40 years whether it was playing golf or tennis, walking the beaches, bicycling, or regaling others with stories while at the Salty Dog Cafe.

Carl was a long-time member of Dunwoody Country Club, where he enjoyed playing golf and visiting with friends and family at the nineteenth hole. He adored his successive dachshunds (Fritz, Hans, Orm, Heidi, Max, Finch, and Liam), all of which have predeceased him.

He was preceded in death by his parents, brother (Wallace Eric and his wife Irene Osar), sister (Anna Barbara Dittus), his beloved Auntie (Ida) and Unc (Hugo), and his brother-in-law Spurgeon Richardson, Jr., with whom he shared a love of family and Hilton Head vacations. He is survived by his wife of 60-years, Lyna; their sons Carl Hugo Anderson, Jr. (Jerald (“Jerry”) M. Byrd) and David Estes Anderson (Liana Eigenseher); grandsons Charles (“Chip”) Estes Anderson and Prescott Johnston (“PJ”) Anderson. He is survived by sister-in-law Mary Frances Richardson and her children Spurgeon Richardson, III (Frances), Kathryn L. (Charles Gerrick), and J. Carter Richardson and their children. He is also survived by sister-in-law Elizabeth (“Betty”) H. Allan and her children Tracy H. (Michael Dionne), Amy E., and James (“Jimmy”) C. and their children. Other survivors include nephew and nieces - T. Erick Dittus (son of Barbara) and his children; Julia Lee Anderson (Gary Piscitelli)(daughter of Wally) and their children; and Lucienne Lane Anderson (daughter of Wally).

The family will receive visitors at H.M Patterson & Son-Oglethorpe Hill, 4550 Peachtree Road, NE, Brookhaven, Georgia, 30319 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm on Friday, February, 11, 2022. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, February 12 at 2:00 p.m. at St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church, 3110 Ashford-Dunwoody Road, Atlanta, Georgia. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions in Carl’s memory be sent to The American Heart Association, 7272 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75231 or The Citadel Brigadier Foundation, 171 Moultrie Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29209.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.hmpattersonOglethorpe.com for the Anderson family.