Jonathan Gerald Anderson

Jonathan Gerald Anderson, 73, known as Jay to those who loved him and Jon, professionally, died peacefully in his sleep on August 5, 2026, at his home in River Forest, Illinois. That he went on his own terms, after showing us what a real fight looks like, feels like one last gift to the family he adored.

Jay was born on June 16, 1953 to Gerald and Diane Anderson, the third of five children, and grew up in Itasca, the town that would claim him as its own for most of his life. He made friends in grade school who were still his friends sixty years later, a pattern that would repeat everywhere he went. After starting college at Northwestern, he transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he spent a life-defining year studying abroad in Copenhagen and a summer in Spain, and earned a bachelor’s degree. Afterward, in what became one of the great legends of his life, he set up a business out of his van to import and export goods between Europe and Morocco, living out of the van itself. When the van was stolen, Jay came home, cut his hair and donned some shoes (to his parents’ relief), and went to law school at the University of Florida, graduating with a juris doctorate in 1980.

He and his wife, Patsy, crossed paths their entire lives in Itasca, but the parallels fully converged after law school, when they married and built a fun, full, and stable life together. Their honeymoon was Patsy’s first trip abroad, and Jay walked her straight into Amsterdam’s Red Light District without a word of warning, purely to watch her face. They were still laughing about it forty-three years later. He was spur-of-the-moment by nature, capable of planning a family trip the week they left and rearranging the whole thing on the fly. He looked for humor in everything. He appointed himself a master reflectologist under the pseudonym “Jo Nathan” (his grandson Nathan is named for the moniker) and propagated a jungle of jade trees through his house and office (Jay’s Jades). A year ago they moved to River Forest to be near some of their grandchildren, who brought him great happiness.

Jay founded Anderson & Associates, P.C. in the early ‘80s, practicing family law, real estate, and bankruptcy, and separately built a real estate company, Anderson Properties, Inc. He grew his firm to, at its height, fourteen associates across five Chicagoland offices, and provided mentorship and opportunities to countless individuals. At various points, he employed his daughters, all of his local nieces and nephews and a host of their friends, giving them opportunities to get substantive professional experience. He was relentlessly entrepreneurial and fiercely independent; he was brilliant, aggressive, scrappy, and always pivoting to adapt to new problems. He stood on his own two feet and paid his own way, always.

He was, by any measure, a notable athlete. He won racquetball tournaments, climbed Mount Rainier, and ran the Chicago Marathon. Even after surviving cancer, he still played golf and could beat anyone at a game of darts or fooseball and hold his own with a rugby girl at beer pong. Flip cup was another story, though even there, he always prevailed in the art of trash talk.

But what he loved most was his family, and what he loved best was when family and sports were the same thing. For years he held Bears season tickets, and game day meant a charcoal grill in

the parking lot with three generations around it - his parents, wife, daughters, siblings, nieces, nephews, and close friends. Jay and his dad went to see the ‘85 Bears win the Super Bowl, and in recent months he spent Wednesday evenings visiting with his 97-year old mother watching sports on TV, like they had done for all of his life. He spent countless hours driving his daughters to softball and coaching them once he got there. When Emily turned to theater and music, he was at every performance, equally in awe, delighted by the difference. And he could not have been prouder when Vanessa’s high school softball team went to the state finals and she was recruited for college ball. When he moved to River Forest and found his grandkids’ ball fields practically in his backyard, he could not believe his luck.

Jay made everything fun. He was lighthearted, open, positive, loyal, and generous. He could let loose, but he was also resilient, stable, present, and a great father, husband, grandfather, brother, son and friend. His priorities were never in question. He learned to be this way from his own loving and supportive parents, whom he was always grateful to have in his corner.

Twenty-seven years ago, Jay survived Stage 4 throat cancer. He referred to the following years as “borrowed time,” and he was thankful for every one of them - for watching his daughters grow up, go to college and graduate school, build careers, marry, and give him the grandchildren he cherished. After several years of declining health, he was diagnosed with cancer again a month ago. Even when it was clear the disease was not curable, he opted for chemotherapy, because he never walked away from a fight. He always chose life. He always chose family and friends. He always showed up.

Jay is survived by his wife of 43 years, Patricia “Patsy” Anderson (née Hollowed); his daughters, Emily Anderson (Adam Zamora) and Vanessa Anderson (Brian Dubiel); his grandchildren, Brenna Dubiel, Nathan Zamora, Russell Dubiel, and Etta Dubiel; his mother, Diane Anderson (née Stanley); his sister, Susan Nolte (Phil); his brother, Michael Anderson (April); his brother-in-law, Frank Honsa; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, Gerald Anderson; his brother, Bryant Anderson; and his sister, Linda Honsa.

A celebration of Jay’s life will be held on September 12, 2026, at The Oaks Funeral Home, 1201 E. Irving Park Road, Itasca, Illinois from 10am – 12pm.

The family wishes to thank the University of Chicago Medical Center for the twenty-seven years of borrowed time - years Jay never stopped being grateful for. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Jay’s memory to cancer research at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Details will be shared by the family once they are finalized.