Michael W Anderson

Michael W. Anderson passed away July 12, 2022, in Cedar Park at home with family. After a long battle with health issues, he has joined his parents and beloved dogs in heaven and is smiling down on all his remaining family and friends, hoping they live their lives to the fullest in his memory. We remember him as a passionate, brilliant and thoughtful man, husband and father.

Michael was born March 10, 1954, in West Texas. He was a product of that environment — a very determined and independent soul. But he was also extremely compassionate and creative, traits that explain his virtuosic poetry and capacity to love deeply.

Michael was raised by loving parents Jack and Caroline, and grew up alongside a wonderful and vibrant sister, Jackie. He was an honor roll student and band member at Permian High School in Odessa and an Eagle Scout and Explorer who made service to others part of his lifelong mission.

Dad attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he became a huge fan of the Longhorns, before graduating from the University of Texas Permian Basin. After graduation, Michael taught creative writing and put his skills to use editing literary magazines and writing poetry.

Soon after, he found a true calling in publishing. He became a top sales manager at Scott Foresman, and it was at this job that he met the love of his life, Colleen. They married in 1988, creating a partnership defined by their absolute belief in one another.

Dad was a technology pioneer, helping Scott Foresman start using this crazy thing called a “personal computer.” Scott Foresman was a textbook publisher, and there dad developed another enduring belief: that education could change people’s lives for the better.

Later, he put that belief into practice as a pioneer of moving what was then known as “distance learning” away from the world of snail mail and onto the internet. He was executive vice president and chief operating officer at VCampus, overseeing its pioneering effort to create one of the first web-based publishing systems for educational content.

He later became an assistant director at the University of Texas System Telecampus, leading to more than 15 years in academia, including at UT-Austin, UTSA and Austin Community College. He mentored countless technologists and educators along the way, but he learned just as much from them. He went back to school in his 50s and earned a master’s degree in learning technologies from UT-Austin in 2012.

Michael’s compassion was most evident in his love of his wife, Colleen, and of his children and grandson. He said his 30-plus years as a husband, father and grandfather brought true meaning to his life. He became enmeshed in his children’s interests, from tea parties and later teen vampire movies with his “sweet sweet” to many weekends traveling to lacrosse games. In his final years, he relished doting on and spending time with his grandson, of whom he was extremely proud.

Michael is survived by his sister, Jackie; wife, Colleen; children, Will, Blaine and Austin Jack; daughter-in-law, Natalie; and grandson, Milam.

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

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You are invited to attend:

Celebrating the Life of Michael Anderson

Saturday, August 20, 2022

1:00 pm

Hope Presbyterian Church

11512 Olson Drive

Austin, Texas 78750

Please adhere to all COVID restrictions

RSVP/INFO [email protected]