He broke racial barriers in Columbus banking. Community leader Robert Anderson dies
Robert Anderson, who grew up in public housing and for half a century benefited Columbus through community service and a career that started as an educator and ended as a racial-barrier-breaking bank executive, has died.
Mayor Skip Henderson confirmed the news to the Ledger-Enquirer. WRBL reported Anderson was at home when he died Thursday. He was 79.
The funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sept. 10 at Christ Community Church, 4078 Milgen Road in Columbus, according to Taylor Funeral Home.
Henderson said Anderson had been battling health issues, including prostate cancer.
“In short, Robert was just a service-minded good guy,” Henderson said. “In a world that desperately needs good guys, there’s now one less.”
Anderson was born in Russell County, but he spent most of his childhood in the Warren Williams public housing complex in Columbus.
In the 1950s and ‘60s, Anderson lived in a segregated world as a young Black man. He became a science teacher. When the schools started to integrate in the early 1970s, “I guess the businesses thought they might want to start thinking that way,” Anderson told the L-E in a 2015 interview.
While working a summer job with the Columbus Youth Opportunity organization, constructing trails and a parking lot at Cooper Creek Park, he met Synovus CEO Jim Blanchard, who was on a tour with other bankers looking at the project. The next morning, Anderson got a call from someone at Columbus Bank and Trust (owned by Synovus) to offer him a job.
Anderson worked his way up the ranks at CB&T to become the bank’s first Black executive as senior vice president for governmental banking. Along with retired Synovus executive vice president Calvin Smyre, he broke racial barriers in the local business world, Henderson said.
“They were some of the first African Americans to rise to a high level in corporate Columbus and change the face of corporations across the community,” he said.
Anderson was the first campaign manager for Smyre, who ended 48 years as a state representative in the Georgia Legislature when he chose not to seek re-election this year.
“Robert Anderson was my brother and dear friend,” Smyre told the L-E in a text message. “We accomplished much together in the community during our friendship. . . . I owe much to him. He was a true community servant.”
Smyre referenced a famous Winston Church quote to further describe Anderson.
“You make your living by what you get; you make your life by what you give,” Smyre said. “Robert made his life by giving.”
Synovus external communications director Audria Belton told the L-E in an email, “We appreciate all Robert contributed during his years at Synovus and for his impact on the community. We extend our sympathies to his family and those who had the pleasure of knowing him.”
After 36 years with Synovus, Anderson became president of Citizens Trust Bank’s local division in 2009. Two years later, he retired and — going full circle — returned to the classroom as a substitute teacher in the Muscogee County School District. He served on the school board from 1979-88 when it was appointed by the grand jury.
Henderson met Anderson at Synovus, where they worked and traveled together as they sought governmental banking contracts in the late 1990s and early 2000s — and played a lot of golf.
“He was an enormous presence everywhere he went,” Henderson said. “It was kind of hard to miss Robert, if for no other reason than that booming voice of his.”
Golf also was a way for Anderson to raise money for college scholarships through the Purple and Gold tournament he organized with the Lambda Iota chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. In 2018, the brotherhood added his name to the tournament’s title.
Another passion Anderson turned into community service was the arts. He had fond memories of what he called the “Black mecca” that was the Liberty District, where Black-owned businesses and entertainment venues once thrived. He became chairman of the historic Liberty Theatre board of directors, trying to help revitalize the area.
In 2017, the Liberty Theatre established the Robert Lamar Anderson Academy of Excellence, an arts program designed to boost the lives of male students at Baker Middle School, where he started his teaching career.
According to his biography on the Liberty Theatre’s website, Anderson was an active member of South Columbus United Methodist Church, where he was a certified lay leader. He also served as lay leader for the Northwest District of the South Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Anderson graduated from Spencer High School in 1960. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Fort Valley State University and a master’s degree in education from Georgia State University. He attended the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University and served for four years in the U.S. Air Force.
“Robert Anderson was a mover and a shaker in every aspect: business, nonprofit, community, religious, you name it,” city manager Isaiah Hugley, who was a fraternity brother with Anderson, told the L-E. “… He was a great man, a good friend, a mentor for so many. … He was an example for so many of us to follow. … We’re going to miss Robert Anderson.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 10:27 AM.
