Hildegard Anderson

Hildegard B. Anderson, June 5, 1929 - September 30, 2010. Hildegard was born in Richmond, Virginia to Professor Hermann Bleibtreu and Hanna Vietor. She is survived by her brother, Hermann Bleibtreu; her son, Dr. Matthew Anderson; and three grandchildren, Javier, Andres, and Miguel. She was predeceased by her son, Martin. She graduated summa cum laude from Wellesley College and came to New York City to work for Reader's Digest. In November of 1955 she married Eugene Anderson; they were later divorced. After working part-time for the Digest while she raised her two sons, Matthew and Martin, she returned to full time work as an Editor at the Digest General Books Division. After retiring she continued to provide research assistance to authors and worked as a reporter and editor for Time Life Books. During her career she worked on dozens of books with topics as diverse as home repairs and the life of Pope John Paul. She was especially proud of her work on Time Life's book on the 9/11 attacks One Nation. For this work she interviewed several survivors of the 9/11 attacks. Throughout her working life she played an important role in a variety of local organizations. She was active as the President of the Wellesley Club of Westchester, in various committees at Saint Barnabas Church, teaching English as Living in America, and sewing necklaces to fund the Irvington Senior Center. Beyond these public accomplishments, she will be remembered for innumerable small acts of kindness and consideration provided to the people close to her. She died peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, after a long battle with cancer.