Jeffery " Jeff" Anderson

Jeff Anderson, age 60, passed away on Monday, May 25, 2020, after a short struggle with cancer. He was born on July 24, 1959, in Madison, where he lived most of his life, including the last 46 years. Jeff always felt lucky to find love not just once, but twice.  He and Elaine Knobeck married in 1987 and together they raised two incredible kids Christopher and Kathryn.  Then in 2014, Jeff and Jen went on a blind date and never looked back.  He proposed to Jennifer Dorman Prestil  on stage at Badgerville in front of  a crowd of  hundreds of people. In 2015, they were united in marriage. Together they had a whirlwind six- year romance that ended entirely too soon.

Jeff felt privileged to work for the State of Wisconsin Department of Administration for 30 years, where he was provided many opportunities to work with state agencies and the United States Treasury.  He began his career as an Account Specialist and completed it as State Controller.

During his early years, Jeff, his mother, father and brother Jayson traveled to every BIG 10 football stadium to watch the Badgers play. The trips would also include a round of golf at a local course- hopefully with a twosome from the opposing team- just to make the game more interesting.

As a kid, Jeff played Little League baseball in Minnetonka, MN and then later coached for West Madison Little League. He also played an active role as a dad, being a team representative in a variety of sports teams that Christopher and Kathryn played on including soccer, hockey, baseball and softball. He was very proud of all of their accomplishments.

Jeff led a full life surrounded by friends.  He was an incredibly talented drummer, and Jeff “Jet,” Bean, Ayne, and Greg played in a band called Spanky in the early ‘80s.  All four members were students at UW-Madison, and they played in Madison and southern Wisconsin area clubs and bars like Headliners and Shuffle Inn.  They called their music ‘Power Pop’ and they played covers as well their own original music.  Among Jeff’s heroes were Neil Peart, Bun E Carlos, and Danny Seraphine, as well as Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa.  Jeff blended all those influences into his unique style that added more power to the pop.   Jeff also shared great times with his buddies, Scott Boruff and Greg Wise who had a golf tournament for 30 years, where the coveted trophy was topped by a jar of 30-year-old Pickled Eggs. Among his other talents, Jeff had a magical way of finding a “Seinfeld” story in just about everything and wished he had been a lion tamer, instead of a chartered account.

Jeff is survived by his wife Jennifer Dorman Anderson; his children Christopher (Katie Krueger) and daughter Kathryn (Chris Pophal); his brother Jayson (Laurie) and their children Eva and Gus; Christopher and Kathryn’s mom Elaine Knobeck- Anderson (Ray Brunner); and Jennifer’s son Ryan Prestil. He is also survived by his aunts Pat Mair, Mary (David) Bourne and Karen (Michael) Bhirdo; and many cousins.

Jeff was preceded in death by his mother June (Licht) and father John, and his sister Joy Anderson.

Please join us as we celebrate Jeff’s life on Thursday, June 18, 2020, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 300 Broadway Drive, Sun Prairie at noon with Pastor Charlie Brandt officiating. A visitation will be held at 11:00 a.m. with social distancing guidelines.

The service will also be streamed online.

The link for the zoom meeting is:

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86338495303

Meeting ID: 863 3849 5303

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made Bethlehem Lutheran Church to support their endowment and education fund.

Jeff will be dearly missed by his family, friends and his dog Missy, who recently joined the family in December, from the Hopkins family in Alaska.