Dr. Clarence Leonidas Anderson, M.D.

LAKELAND -- During the 40 plus years that Dr. Clarence Leonidas Anderson practiced as a board-certified OB/GYN, he is thought to have delivered more than 8,000 babies.

Dr. Anderson may have delivered more than 8,000 babies.

The retired physician died of complications of Alzheimer's disease Thursday (July 17, 2003) at Good Shepherd Hospice. He was 82.

"Half the people in Lakeland who were born here between 1952 and when he retired were his patients," his daughter, Anne McKnight of Charlotte, N.C., said.

Dr. Anderson, who was born in Lake City on May 25, 1921, came from a family with a medical background with his grandfather and uncle practicing medicine, and his father working in the medical supply industry.

He grew up in Tampa and graduated from Plant City High School. He attended Davidson College, leaving a semester early to enter Duke University Medical School as a participant in the ASTP program, which trained doctors for the military during World War II. On March 23, 1946, he received his Army commission, graduated from medical school and married his wife, Cicely.

He served two years in the Army and then moved to Atlanta to complete his residency in OB/GYN at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Anderson and his family came to Lakeland from Atlanta in 1952, and he set up an OB/GYN practice delivering babies in Morrell Memorial Hospital until his retirement in 1988.

He was described as an outdoorsman who enjoyed golfing, fishing, hunting and cultivating orchids. "He especially enjoyed his beach house where he could fish for snook and tend to his mango and papaya trees," his grandson, Josh Anderson of Tampa, said.

He served as secretary for many years, and later president, of the Polk County Medical Association. He was chief of staff of Lakeland General Hospital. He was a member of the Florida OB/GYN Society and the South Atlantic OB/GYN Society. He was a longtime Rotarian and a member of Lone Palm Country Club. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church where he was a Sunday school teacher, deacon and elder.

In addition to his daughter, Dr. Anderson is survived by his wife, Cicely Laws Anderson; daughter, Beth Witherspoon, Tallahassee; sons, Lonnie Anderson, Tampa, Bobby Anderson, Snellville, Ga.; sister, Grace Elizabeth Cooper, St. Petersburg; 11 grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Heath Funeral Chapel. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at First Presbyterian Church, 175 Lake Hollingsworth Drive.

Memorials may be made to Good Shepherd Hospice, 105 Arneson Ave., Auburndale, or USF Suncoast Center for Alzheimer Research, 10770 N. 46th St., Suite A1200, Tampa, 33617.

MEMORIAL PHOTOS 2 FLOWERS 0 son of Thomas E. Anderson and Elizabeth M. Humphreys

US Army Service: Enlistment, 3 Jul 1943 Release, 22 Mar 1946

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