Washington - Robert W. "Bob" Anderson passed away January 6, 2024 of leukemia after nearly 84 mostly sunny years.

Bob was born January 19, 1940 to Elizabeth and Frank Anderson in Philadelphia, PA. He was proud of his heritage, Scottish on his father's side and German on his mother's. When Bob was 12, his mother passed away and he had to learn to take care of himself, including cooking Philly cheesesteaks. He had one older brother, Joe Anderson, who passed away in 2016.

Bob grew up in a rowhouse in Philadelphia and graduated from Father Judge High School. He attended Penn State University, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in meteorology. As a young man, he enjoyed ice skating in winter and going to the beaches and boardwalk of Atlantic City during summer.

At Penn State, he met Nancy Suwalski in the laundry room of the boarding house in which they both lived as graduate students. They married in August 1963 and celebrated their 60th anniversary last year. They had three sons, David Anderson of Portland, Michael Anderson of Seattle and Matthew Anderson of Redmond.

Bob's first job out of college was working as a civilian oceanographer for the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C. He worked in anti-submarine warfare and at least once landed on an aircraft carrier and took off as a passenger.

In 1976, Bob got a job with the National Weather Service in Seattle and the family moved to Bothell. Bob headed the ocean services unit, which predicted weather and surf conditions for Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Washington coast. He was in that job until he retired in 1995.

Bob and Nancy moved to a house on Lake Washington near Matthew's Beach in 2000. Even before that, Bob had collected a flotilla of kayaks, a sailboat and canoe. He also bought a powerboat so his sons and grandchildren could go waterskiing and wakeboarding. He was an avid gardener and had considered studying horticulture. He loved listening to music, from Tchaikovsky to ABBA, and was a keen newspaper reader.

Other than his family, Bob's real passion was the weather. He taught his sons and grandchildren about everything from the convergence zone to crepuscular rays. After he retired, he religiously tuned in to KONG-TV every morning to hear the forecast.

His other great passion in retirement was being grandfather to Hannah, Brady, Simon and Elliot. He grew earthworms in his compost so the kids could go fishing. He pitched a mean whiffleball during epic family games at Lake Chelan. And he took the grandkids to museums, plays and ice cream shops.

Bob and Nancy loved to travel, especially to Croatia and Europe. He reconnected with relatives in Germany and hosted many of them at the Lake Washington house. Nancy and Bob were also members of an investment club. They moved to Ida Culver House Broadview in 2022.

Bob was modest and frugal. He owned a Volvo station wagon - brown with a pinstripe he had added - for 33 years. He was also generous, allowing out-of-town families with children being treated at Seattle Children's Hospital to live with them.

Bob was a practicing Catholic and member of the St. Brendan's Catholic Church in Bothell and Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Wedgwood.

After Bob was diagnosed with cancer in January 2023, he was treated at Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle. He fit in a lot of life in his last year, including grandkids' graduations and piano recitals. He appreciated all the efforts of the spruce team at Hutch to make that happen.

A funeral mass is scheduled for Saturday, March 2 at 11:00 a.m. at Our Lady of the Lake, 8900 35th Ave. NE, Seattle.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Fred Hutch Cancer Center or Volunteer Transportation Services at Sound Generations.