IGFA Trustee and former Vice Chairman, John “Jack” Anderson II, dies in Bermuda

Masterful angler and significant contributor to the evolution of the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum.

John Wendell 'Jack' Anderson II, a resident of Palm Beach, FL since 1981, passed away on July 17, 2008 in Hamilton, Bermuda. Anderson, a former industrialist, world traveler, avid sports fisherman and golf enthusiast, was born September 16, 1923 in Pittsburgh, PA.

With his passion for ethical sport fishing and scientific marine inquiry, Anderson served for 30 years on the IGFA Board of Trustees, and as Vice Chairman for 20 years. He played a pivotal role in the fundraising and design decisions to make the 60-year dream of a permanent home for the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum a reality.

In the early 1930s the Anderson family moved to Bermuda, where Anderson received a formal British education. Upon graduation he enrolled at Yale University, but less than a year later, he left college to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Force.  Recruited from the ranks by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), he served in the European theater of operations in 1944 and 1945. Anderson was released from the U.S. forces as a first lieutenant in September 1945 and returned to Yale, graduating in 1947.

Over the next 45 years he channeled his family’s steel tubing company, Bundy Corporation, into a multinational force. While doing so he traveled to -- and fished -- all parts of the globe. Angling flourished after World War II and Anderson was in the forefront of this growth. He was a regular in the Bahamas in 1947, where he often went bonefishing in the morning for the bait he would use to entice blue marlin in the afternoon. In 1978 and 1983, off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Anderson made two remarkable catches: a 1,318 lb black marlin landed in 57 minutes and a 1,307 lb fish taken in 47 minutes.  Anderson is one of only two anglers to accomplish such a feat.

Anderson has caught Atlantic blue marlin and bluefin tuna over 800 lb, Pacific blue marlin over 900lb, and has made 10-to-1 catches of black marlin, blue marlin, striped marlin and Pacific sailfish, something that few anglers achieve with even a single species.

With his knowledgeable, scientific approach to big-game angling and fascination with marine life and the world’s oceans, Anderson worked with ichthyologists, oceanographers, technicians and other qualified personnel, including the Andersons’ fishing captain Bill Fagen, over a several month fishing expedition collecting specimens in exotic locales. 

In 1956 Anderson fished the first of five International Tuna Cup Matches (ITCM) in Wedgeport, Nova Scotia. Selected for the United States Tuna Team by event organizer Kip Farrington, Anderson was part of the winning US team in 1965. Though the US placed third in 1966 Anderson captured, after a lengthy battle, the first tuna ever taken by an American team captain. Limited to five years of fishing by ITCM tournament rules, he continued his association with the Match until 1975, on the Board of Directors and as Chairman of the Match Committee.

In addition to his sons, John Wendell Anderson III of Cuernavaca, Mexico, Christopher William Anderson of Cairns, Australia, and daughter, Carrie Anderson-Kincaid of Cheyenne, Wyoming, Anderson is survived by his six grandchildren: John's sons, Blake and Evan; Christopher's children, Lakin, Laura and Sierra, and Carrie's daughter, Catherine Lindsay.

The family requests that memorial tributes be made to the International Game Fish Association, 300 Gulf Stream Way, Dania Beach, Florida 33004.