(Photo courtesy medill.northwestern.edu. Graphic by Shane Snow.)
Once-prominent journalist Michael Anderson remains missing while the New York police continue to investigate his disappearance.
Michael Anderson worked as a assistant professor at Northwestern University and lectured at Columbia and Yale.
Anderson, a former editor at The New York Times Book Review, vanished on November 12 from his Inwood apartment and left nothing but a suicide note for friends, said Patricia Fieldsteel, a journalist living in France.
The note, sent as an automatic response on Anderson’s email account, is what friends sent to the NYPD to file a missing person’s report, police said. Police also said doctors had called in search of Anderson.
Anderson, whom Fieldsteel called “a brilliant writer and intellectual,” was named to Northwestern University’s Medill Hall of Achievement for his 17-year tenure at the Times, ending with his retirement in July 2005. He graduated from the Medill School with a bachelor’s degree in 1974 and a master’s in 1975, both in journalism.
He wrote for the Book Review’s now defunct “In Briefs” section which showcased 200-word reviews, said *Steve Coates, copy desk chief for the Review. Coats said he didn’t know Anderson well, but “he was always incredibly kind and considerate. A gentleman.”
Anderson had also worked as an editor at The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Sun-Times. He lectured at Columbia and Yale and taught as an assistant professor at Northwestern, where he had been editor of the Daily Northwestern.
“I knew him at Northwestern; even then he had a reputation of a very talented editor,” said Craig Matsuda, who was managing editor of the Daily Northwestern. “I had just started the job and one afternoon in rolled Mike Anderson who was a legendary figure.” Matsuda now works at the Los Angeles Times.
Anderson was also reportedly working on a biography on Lorraine Hansberry, the playwright who wrote “A Raisin in the Sun.”
A neighbor at 330 Haven Ave. where Anderson lived, speaking on the condition of anonymity, also remembers Anderson as a warm- hearted intellect who was always carrying a theater playbill or a book.
His neighbor said Anderson lived alone and Fieldsteel said he rarely spoke of family but on several occasions told her, “Families are bad news.”
Now his sudden disappearance has friends and neighbors shaken.
Officers searched his apartment complex, next to the Hudson, police said. A neighbor said he watched as police broke down Anderson’s door and scoured the grounds. Anderson was last seen on November 12 around 1 a.m.
“They woke me up at 3 a.m. last week and they asked me what I know about him,” Anderson’s neighbor said. “Now they’ve padlocked the door.”
A police spokesman, Detective Marc Nell, said police saw no signs of struggle in Anderson’s apartment but continue to look for clues.
*This story inaccurately reported an editor’s name and position. Steve Coates is the copy desk chief at The New York Times Book Review.
