In this episode, we explore the remarkable journey of Lee Anderson, Class of 1961, from his childhood in Minneapolis to his influential career and philanthropic efforts. Anderson shares stories of his upbringing, his formative years at West Point, and how the Academy's values shaped his life of leadership and service. We delve into his transition from military service to transforming a family business into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise and his ongoing dedication to service through philanthropy, inspired by his father's legacy.
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Lee Anderson, Class of 1961, as we explore his remarkable journey from his childhood in Minneapolis to his influential career and philanthropic efforts. Anderson shares intimate details of his upbringing with his father's transformation from an orphaned Swedish immigrant to a successful plumber and his mother's time in an orphanage. Discover how his father and half brother led him to West Point, setting the stage for a life of leadership and service. Anderson reflects on his formative years at West Point, significant mentors and athletic achievements in basketball, and his deep appreciation for his classmates, which instilled in him resilience and teamwork.
Lee Anderson is the most philanthropic graduate in West Point history. As a cadet, he played basketball. He began his term of service in the Air Force and assigned to Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona. He served three years on active duty. Returning home to Minnesota, he became a salesman at APi Inc., a small insulation contracting division of Reuben L. Anderson-Cherne, now known as APi Group Inc. Through his tireless effort and vision, Anderson transformed APi from a small business with 13 employees into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise employing nearly 9,000 people. As a member of the Thomas Jefferson Society, Anderson and his wife Penny made a record-breaking $6-million gift to build the West Point Army rugby stadium, the Anderson Rugby Complex.
In this episode, we explore Anderson's transition from military to business success, where he transformed a family plumbing business into a major player in fire protection and construction. Learn about his innovative employee leadership strategies, including the implementation of an ESOP program, and the significant financial benefits created for his workforce. Anderson's commitment to philanthropy, inspired by his father, spans various causes, from veterans' affairs to wildlife conservation. His reflections on the profound influence of West Point and his ongoing dedication to giving back offers a heartfelt tribute to the enduring values instilled at the Academy, solidifying his legacy as a model of leadership and generosity.
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Key Quote:
“West Point is the greatest institution that I'm aware of that we have in this country. You think of the outstanding individuals in this country and a large number of them were West Point graduates. And I'm very, very proud.”
- Lee Anderson
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(00:29) Lee’s Path to West Point
(05:12) School Days and Influences
(10:51) Athletics and Extracurriculars
(17:55) Memorable Experiences and Mentors
(23:20) Experiences at Luke Air Force Base
(26:29) Building the Business Empire
(36:15) Philanthropy and Giving Back
(44:13) Reflections on Success and West Point
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[music]
0:00:01.6 Announcer: Welcome to the WPAOG podcast. This episode features an inspiring conversation with Lee Anderson, a distinguished West Point class of 1961 graduate. From his humble beginnings in Minneapolis to becoming the single most philanthropic graduate in West Point history, Anderson's journey is nothing short of remarkable. Hear how he transformed his father's small plumbing business into API Group Inc. A multi-billion dollar enterprise, and learn about his innovative leadership strategies. Discover the profound influence West Point had on his life, instilling values of resilience, teamwork, and service that continue to guide his extraordinary philanthropic efforts. Please enjoy this episode with our host, Dave Siri.
0:00:50.1 Dave Siri: I'm here with Lee Anderson, West Point class of 1961. Welcome home, sir.
0:00:54.9 Lee Anderson: Thank you very much.
0:00:55.9 Dave Siri: It's good to see you.
0:00:57.0 Lee Anderson: It's a pleasure to be here.
0:00:58.7 Dave Siri: If you could please tell me about your childhood.
0:01:01.3 Lee Anderson: Born in 1939 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, small family. I'm an only child. My father was married previously and had a son who was a graduate of 1948 here.
0:01:16.7 Lee Anderson: Which is kind of an interesting fact. And I actually stayed in Minneapolis and participated in sports and a reasonably good student until the senior year. The reason I ended up at West Point is kind of an interesting story. I was a fairly good athlete, so I had applied to a number of Eastern schools and had been accepted at all of them, except for Princeton. And my dad one day said getting to the point where you have to pick where you're gonna go to school. Oh, yeah, Dad, I know. He says, well, have you given it some thought? I said, well, I have. I said, I think I'd like to go to Harvard or Dartmouth, those two. And he said, well, I've been giving it some thought. And I said, really? I'm a little nervous now about what this was about. And he says, I think you should go to West Point.
0:02:11.5 Lee Anderson: Your half-brother went to West Point and he's been a marvelous experience for him. I said, yeah, Dad, I know. And it's hard. I wasn't sure I wanted to work there. I didn't tell him that. But in my mind, I was immature as most 18-year-olds are. And I was thinking about how much fun I was gonna have going to college. So I said, well, I got the perfect out because I didn't apply to West Point. And he says, well, I took care of that. I applied for you. I said, well, how could you do that? He says, well, I had your scores and everything.
0:02:45.0 Lee Anderson: I sent them in. I said, but don't you have to take a physical exam? He says, yeah, that's tomorrow. That's why I'm telling you about it today. You have to be down at the armory at 9:00 AM So he said, well, don't worry about it. He says, I really question whether you'd make it. Good reverse psychology. And of course, I just took a hook, line, and sinker. Ah, the perfect out. I won't make it. And of course, just the opposite was true. I got an appointment to West Point. And then he said, well, you're gonna go, aren't you? And I said, well, Dad I told you all that. He says, well, this is the greatest opportunity in your life. And of course, he was right.
0:03:26.4 Lee Anderson: I didn't see that for about a week, but he stopped talking to me. And I went to my mother and I said Dad's not talking to me. He says, yeah, I know. He says, well, what's that all about? He said, well, you know what it's about. He wants you to go to West Point. So I gave it some thought and I said, can't be that bad. Now, I tell this because this is a true story. I know young men that are really young, their hearts are set on going to West Point. It just didn't happen in my case that way. Not initially anyway. So that's how I ended up here. July 2nd, 1957, and went through that Sally port like thousands of others have done.
0:04:11.2 Dave Siri: And before we get to talking more about your West Point experience, tell me a little bit about your father.
0:04:16.9 Lee Anderson: Yeah, my dad is a very interesting man. He was orphaned at 14. He had an eighth grade education because in those days he was a Swedish immigrant. And with his parents dying, he moved in with another Swedish family. He lived in an area in St. Paul that was called Swede Hollow. Everything was Swedish. Stores were Swedish. Everybody taught Swedish. And that's what they did. They took you in, but you weren't expected to go to school. You were expected to earn your keep. And the man he moved in with was a plumber. So my dad at age 14 became an apprentice plumber, and that's what he did.
0:04:58.9 Dave Siri: How about your mother?
0:05:00.2 Lee Anderson: My mother also was orphaned early and lived in an orphanage in Menomonie, Wisconsin. She managed to get out of there at an early age and married somebody. I don't know. It was never too clear to me, but it was just an opportunity to get out of the orphanage and until she met my dad.
0:05:20.9 Dave Siri: And as a boy, you were an avid outdoorsman, and there was a family farm near the Brainerd Lakes area?
0:05:28.3 Lee Anderson: Yes. It really was a lake cabin up in Niswats, about 150 miles north of the Twin Cities. And my dad bought a cabin there in 1943. So essentially I grew up there and loved it. I fished, had a hatchet, went out in the woods and cut down poplar trees, which were easy to cut, and building a fort.
0:05:50.2 Dave Siri: A very happy experience.
0:05:51.6 Lee Anderson: And that's where my wife and I really call home now. We have a place in Florida to escape the winters, but in the summertime we go back up north there, and that's our favorite place in the world.
0:06:03.3 Dave Siri: You attended Breck School in St. Paul, correct, sir?
0:06:06.0 Lee Anderson: I did.
0:06:06.7 Dave Siri: And your father helped save that school.
0:06:10.4 Lee Anderson: Yes, that's a great story. My dad would drive by Breck School on his way to his office every day, and he noticed that the construction had stopped. So one day he pulls over. Being a plumber, he's interested maybe this is a job. So he went in and he said, well, what's happening? He said, well, we've run out of money, and we're trying to raise more money to finish this. And he said... Dad said, well, I'd be willing to do the plumbing work here if you'd waive the tuition for my son to come here. And they said, oh, that's a deal. And also that's how I ended up there.
0:06:51.7 Dave Siri: And tell me a little bit about your experiences at that school.
0:06:56.0 Lee Anderson: Well, it was a very small school. I had 17 members in my class. So you can imagine, and this was back in the '40s, the '50s, graduated in '57. And schools like that were ROTC schools. So it had military boys school, private school, and it was considered very good. They, we had a PMS&T military, of course, we marched, we had to wear uniforms and all that. And he was instrumental in my thinking about West Point. I was just thinking about it, but his name was Colonel P. Porter Wiggins. I'll never forget him. He, said, Lee, you should go to West Point. So he was another influence on me. I had great, you know, small schools, so anything you did, you were good at. I don't know, it was fun. I played basketball and football and threw the discus on the track team.
0:07:50.8 Dave Siri: And, you know, it was fun. And part of Breck's Alma Mater includes honor, God, and country.
0:07:57.2 Lee Anderson: Yeah.
0:07:58.3 Dave Siri: And so that must've been very familiar to you when you did come to West Point.
0:08:01.8 Lee Anderson: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Very similar. Breck was a part of the Episcopal or Anglican diocese. So that's where the God part of it came into, but it's the same model we have here.
0:08:14.9 Dave Siri: And you already talked about how you got to West Point about, you know, the influence to come here. What is your most vivid memory of our day, the first day at the military academy?
0:08:25.3 Lee Anderson: Walking to the sally port, and my parents came and they had a kind of like a care package, which I never really got to bring in. So they said, well, you know, take the toothbrush. And I said, well, they said, well, we got toothbrushes too. So I didn't take any of them in. But that's kind of a, it's like the no place of no return when you walk through there and then get in and upperclassmen pick up that suitcase, drop that suitcase and all that stuff. Pretty awesome.
0:09:00.4 Dave Siri: How was your Beast summer?
0:09:01.9 Lee Anderson: I think it was great. I, like most people here, I was athletic and so I didn't have, but one interesting thing when I went here, do you remember the Asian flu back in 1957? Well, the Asian flu came to Beast barracks and it was awesome. People were just falling over. I mean, cadets, new cadets were falling over the hospital. And ultimately I missed it like for a week or so. And I think half the people were in the hospital and sure enough, I got it and I ended up in the hospital. We, they had mattresses on the floor. It wasn't, I mean, you're talking about, in those days we didn't, there weren't so many of us, but I think we started with like 570 and half of them were in that hospital.
0:09:49.3 Dave Siri: My goodness. And sir, was this the days when the hospital is now the admissions building?
0:09:54.1 Lee Anderson: Yes.
0:09:54.2 Dave Siri: Okay.
0:09:55.8 Lee Anderson: Yeah, exactly.
0:09:56.9 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. The next summer you were at Buckner for field training. How was that?
0:10:00.6 Lee Anderson: Oh, it was great. I love, my favorite part of the West Point, of course, I think was the field training here. It was amazing. So I enjoyed every part of that.
0:10:12.0 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:10:13.2 Lee Anderson: I liked the armor. And of course, as you go through here, you get to experience all the different arms.
0:10:19.3 Dave Siri: How did you do academically at the academy?
0:10:22.5 Lee Anderson: I did all right. That, you know, I hedged that question, right? I used to tell people, they said, well, how'd you do? I said, great. You know, I finished at the very top of the fourth quartile. Oh, that sounds great. You know, well, I don't think a lot of people knew what the fourth quartile, but anyway, no, I was maybe 200 from the bottom.
0:10:43.3 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:10:44.2 Lee Anderson: But reasonably good student, but probably a better athlete.
0:10:48.5 Dave Siri: What were your favorite classes?
0:10:53.3 Lee Anderson: Oh, I liked statistics and math. My grandchildren, they struggled with statistics. I found it very interesting. Mostly I enjoyed it because it is interesting, statistical knowledge and so forth, but I liked everything.
0:11:06.3 Dave Siri: Okay. Excellent. How did you do militarily at the academy?
0:11:13.2 Lee Anderson: Well, again, I, I'm hedging that question a little bit because the true answer is I didn't do very well. I graduated as a sergeant, which I think is, everybody does, you know, so, but I'm going to lay blame to my immaturity, even during the four years that I was here. And while I was trying to build my character and my leadership capabilities and so forth, I started out as a very immature kid. And if I had to do it over again, I'd do it a lot different.
0:11:42.2 Dave Siri: Okay. And you've said already you were a gifted athlete and all that. And tell us a little bit about playing sports here. You, played football your plebe year. You did track your plebe year.
0:11:52.2 Lee Anderson: Yes.
0:11:53.3 Dave Siri: You did basketball all four years.
0:11:54.8 Lee Anderson: Yes.
0:11:55.7 Dave Siri: And skeet club as well.
0:11:57.3 Lee Anderson: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm, I do a lot of skeet and trap now, so I'm involved with the skeet club here, but at the time I wasn't involved in that, but yeah, that's a favorite test sport. You know, I can still shoot at 85 and there's something you can do for a long time.
0:12:14.8 Dave Siri: What, what was it like playing basketball here?
0:12:18.3 Lee Anderson: It was great. We had winning teams. We went to the NIT. We weren't part of the NCAA then, but we went to the NIT three of the years that I was here. We did well. We had winning records and we were good. We beat Navy a couple of years and they beat us a couple of years.
0:12:36.1 Dave Siri: What position did you play?
0:12:37.8 Lee Anderson: I played center. And six, seven, but I was, I might say I did a pretty good rebounder. And I think my offensive and defensive end, but I had a pretty good scoring average. It wasn't great. I like to, people ask me about basketball. I said, I scored 26 points against Villanova as a senior. That was my highlight of the game, but my average was much lower than that.
0:13:01.4 Dave Siri: Okay. Now you were in public information detail and public relations council as a cadet.
0:13:08.7 Lee Anderson: Yes.
0:13:08.8 Dave Siri: And as someone who's supported the academy for years financially, what do you think is the most important element for the public to know about West Point?
0:13:19.8 Lee Anderson: Well, this is where young men and women now come to learn leadership and become individuals of high character. I am in... Should go back a little bit to the most recent years after I graduated, I was just not so active in the alumni and so forth. I came back to a few reunions, but our friend Freed Lowry was on the AOG staff and he called me one day kind of out of the blue. Well, I had given some money, nothing major at all. And, but he picked that up and he said, well, I see you've been sending in some money. I said, yeah, it's having an interest. And he says, well, you know Freed?
0:14:07.7 Dave Siri: Oh, yes.
0:14:08.3 Lee Anderson: Well, okay. He's very direct. So he said, well, why don't you do more? And I said, well, quite frankly, nobody's asked me like you have. I said, I'd like to consider that. So at that point then became close to Freed and the AOG and Tom Dyer and it became like a destination for me. And I've really enjoyed that connection with the academy. I come back, not so much now, but try to come back two or three times a year. But for about 10 years, I was doing even more than that. So it's marvelous, but I don't know if I answered your question perfectly, but it's all about the leadership and then is in building character.
0:14:48.8 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. And Freed is a wonderful fellow.
0:14:51.2 Lee Anderson: Yeah.
0:14:51.7 Dave Siri: Yeah.
0:14:51.8 Lee Anderson: He is. He's got stories on everybody. I bet he's even got a story about you.
0:14:56.4 Dave Siri: I'm sure he does, sir. You were also involved in the Hi-Fi Club here at West Point. Tell me about that. You did KDT too.
0:15:04.5 Lee Anderson: Yes. Yeah. I was the voice of West Point on the KDT. Do they still have that?
0:15:10.5 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:15:10.6 Lee Anderson: KDT. Yeah. Well, it was kind of fun. Anyway, we'd play music during study hours and that was about it. But once in a while, I'd give an opinion about something, but not too often. Well, the Hi-Fi Club, one of the things that my classmates know, I built a television set. How about that? And you remember Heath kit? Well, on one trip to New York, I bought the kit to put it all together. So I mean, I just followed the instructions. She got the soldering iron, the whole thing. So in the evening when we were studying, some of what I was doing was putting this TV kit.
0:15:46.6 Lee Anderson: Well, everybody knew about it, I thought. And what I would do when it was built and it worked, it had like a six inch screen. So God, I was everybody's buddy. They'd all come to the room and they'd all be looking in there. And it was fun. And I was in the first division of old central area, which of course, when that was built, they were all fireplace. That's how they heated it. And it's still there. It's the only part of central area that's still around. But in the fireplace, I had managed to get up there and put a pulley up there and I had it on a rope. So, and when we were done with it, I put it up in the chimney.
0:16:23.7 Lee Anderson: Okay. I thought we were so clever. Then I got some co-actual cable, ran it up the chimney and then over to the first class club and hooked into their antenna system over there. Well, this went on for the better part of a year, but I think too many people talked about it. And then next thing I know, I got a request by the commandant, who was General Throckmorton, who my dad knew. His parents had retired to Hawaii and my folks were friends of his dad. And he comes over there. Of course, I knew there was a connection, but he said, well, Mr. Anderson, I understand you've got a television. Yes, sir. And he says, well, it's pretty ingenious. He said, I'm going to tell you right now. He says, I've known about the TV for about six months. He said, you're not as clever as you thought, but I thought anybody that could come up with something like that, it deserves a little time enjoying it. He says, but I've got your TV now. And when you graduate, you take it with you. And it was just a little box like this. But that was fun. And then he never mentioned that his parents knew my parents, it would be inappropriate.
0:17:41.2 Dave Siri: Yes sir.
0:17:41.8 Lee Anderson: And I think I got a couple of the merits for it. It was pretty light.
0:17:46.2 Dave Siri: That is a fascinating story. I've never heard any story quite like that. That's amazing. Now, you mentioned the commandant. You also had two pretty influential superintendents during that time. Gar Davidson, who was superintendent up until '60 and William Westmoreland, who was superintendent through your graduation. Any memories of either of those gentlemen?
0:18:08.8 Lee Anderson: Well, I remember that as a cadet, they were awesome. And you know, this superintendent today, he's up to jog with you in the morning or get you aside and sit and nothing. They were sat to the right hand of God. And they told you that. And so I see General Davidson or Westmoreland come and I'd take the, I'd go that way. And I think most of the cadets did, but I think they did very well. General Davidson was a good looking gray haired, dapper looking guy. Westmoreland was a bit different, but quite outstanding.
0:18:47.4 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. What is your most memorable West Point experience?
0:18:52.0 Lee Anderson: I think the people in our company, that was A1 in those days we sized everything by height and A1 and M2 of course were the flankers and everybody in the middle and were shorter. We had a term for them too, but it's not important today. Now they integrated the Corps as far as height is concerned. And I think that's appropriate. We kind of liked it that way. Believe it or not, the hundred men in the company A1, we were all average 6'3".
0:19:21.9 Dave Siri: Okay.
0:19:22.2 Lee Anderson: So that's amazing. You're living with these giants, really. And it was fun.
0:19:27.2 Dave Siri: Who were some of your mentors at West Point?
0:19:30.0 Lee Anderson: In my class? Well, I think Peter Dawkins comes to mind. He's a, still is, he's a marvelous individual. And of course everybody knows him and we all thought he'd be a four-star. I think part of the problem by his own admission that he was so desirable as an aide, as a general's aide, that he never got to the positions or got the assignments that he should have had in order to make it to four stars, I think. And I enjoyed to coach the basketball team. I actually played two years on football. You mentioned the Plebe here, but I also went out for the spring practice. And I can remember Red Blake.
0:20:19.6 Lee Anderson: He retired in '59 when we had the championship team and his leadership style was he'd stand off to the side and he'd have a clipboard there and all the practice and all, everything was done beforehand with the coaches. And then everyone did what they had to do and he'd just stand and observe. I thought it was so, anyway, we were in awe of him, never said anything. He didn't say, pick it up, let's get going or anything like that. But he didn't have to. I mean, he was a wonderful role model, I thought, and everybody loved playing for him. Yeah, that was great. And a lot of those guys that we played football with and they went on to be really like Peter Dawkins and Bobby Anderson, and I can go Bobby Novogratz and go on and on, Carpenter, the Lonely End. Oh, we had a good team.
0:21:19.7 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:21:22.0 Lee Anderson: Yeah. And it was fun. Those were fun years. A lot of different now. And I'm not one of these, I'm not an old grad that says, everything's gone to hell. I say everything has changed and probably for the better. Not completely for the better, but I, like every graduate, I have an opinion about a few things, but, I think an education at West Point is still the most important thing anybody could take advantage of.
0:21:49.6 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. What did you choose to branch?
0:21:55.1 Lee Anderson: Well, another interesting, question. I went into the Air Force and those days, West Point had 50 slots to go into the Air Force. And that was kind of a holdover from, the days when the Air Force Academy was not, operational. And in part because, the Air Force used to be the Army Air Force. So they were like one in the same. So they recognized like 50 people could do it. Now, why did I do that? My roommate, who I was close with until his passing two years ago, very close to him. His father was a three-star in the Air Force and I would be invited to go with my roommate and his family to the various events. And I love doing that. I like, I love this man. So I think he had a big influence on me.
0:22:48.6 Lee Anderson: And my roommate, of course, went Air Force and I didn't fly. In those days, they said, well, you're too tall to fly. But that really wasn't my main interest. I went in the engineering Air Force and was assigned in the tactical air command and served in a lot of interesting places as the base engineering officer. It was great. I'm 22 years old and I got 35 people in my office. Of course, the civil servants were really running it. So I had the big desk on the corner. So, so it was fun. I really enjoyed that. And that, and I always wanted to go into construction. So that really worked out well.
0:23:30.0 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. And who was your roommate?
0:23:33.8 Lee Anderson: Phil Smith.
0:23:34.6 Dave Siri: Okay.
0:23:34.7 Lee Anderson: Phil went on to get a graduate degree and then a PhD in engineering. And he was brilliant. And he and I were very close. We had the opportunity, I didn't, room with him my freshman year, plebe year, but the next three years we did. And so we got close that much time together. He incidentally invented the Taser. He didn't invent it, but he was able to buy the Taser gun project. And it wasn't just his claim to fame. He did a lot of great things, but that was certainly one of them.
0:24:12.0 Dave Siri: Excellent. Now you've already mentioned that you were the base engineering officer at Luke Air Force Base and it was the 4510 Combat Crew Training Wing.
0:24:23.1 Lee Anderson: Exactly.
0:24:23.1 Dave Siri: Okay.
0:24:23.2 Lee Anderson: Boy, you had, you've done your homework. That's great.
0:24:26.2 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. What were your experiences like there?
0:24:30.3 Lee Anderson: Oh, well, they were great. I enjoyed the military. I really did. I were coming to a point in my story where I'm going to tell you how I got out of the service. But for the time that I was in it, I really enjoyed it. And I would have loved to have had, I always say to everybody, I wish I had two lives to live. I would have enjoyed serving one as a career officer in the military. And it was fun.
0:24:55.8 Dave Siri: After three years in the Air Force, you left active duty to help your father run the family business because had he become ill?
0:25:04.3 Lee Anderson: Yes. Like I said, aside from my half brother, who was still in the military at those times, we were a very small family and he was a contractor at this point now and doing well, and he wanted me to come into the business and he'd had a heart attack in 1963. And so again, like telling me I'm going to go to West Point, he said, you need to come home now. And I said, well, dad, this was all your idea. And he says, yeah, I know. He said, but I, if I'm not here to help you get started in the business, you'll be missing out on something. Oh, it was particularly hard. I'd just been transferred to Amsterdam Air Force Base. And I just, I really wanted to do that. But my dad said, no, you need to come home. So I agreed to do that.
0:25:57.5 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:25:57.9 Lee Anderson: Yeah.
0:26:00.8 Dave Siri: And then around this time, maybe a year or two later, is that when you married Penny?
0:26:02.4 Lee Anderson: Yes.
0:26:04.8 Dave Siri: How did you meet?
0:26:06.7 Lee Anderson: Well, I'd been gone seven years from Minneapolis and all my friends went to a small school. They had all scattered to the winds and so forth. So I really didn't know anybody, but I was certainly interested. Well, my mother was in a bridge club and over the bridge table, she said, well, my son's here and he'd like to meet some nice young girls. And anybody got any ideas? Well apparently somebody talked about it. And a friend of hers whose son worked at a lady's fashion store, said that they had floor models and people like that. And one of them was willing to have coffee with me, so well, I said, great. So I, we went out to coffee and we really hit it off. That would've been in October. In January I asked her to marry me, and in June we got married.
0:27:02.1 Dave Siri: Of '65.
0:27:03.6 Lee Anderson: Yeah. 59 years next week.
0:27:06.0 Dave Siri: Congratulations.
0:27:06.9 Lee Anderson: Oh, yeah. It's wonderful.
0:27:07.0 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:27:09.7 Lee Anderson: I always say I belong to the MOO club. Married only once. And it, and it's great. It's never as perfect as everybody say, but for the most part, for all those years we've been a perfect match.
0:27:21.1 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. So you returned home and the businesses. API. It's fire protection and con construction. Tell me a little bit about the business?
0:27:31.9 Lee Anderson: Well, okay, now, my dad was in the plumbing business. This is the plumbing business. So what happened was, I got home, my dad had a partner in the business, in his business. And so first day on the job and sitting there and my dad says his partner was Tony. He says, Tony, he says, Lee's here. He says, yeah, I see him. You know? He says, yeah. He said, well, it was always my thought that we could bring him into the business. He says, my dad's name was Ruben. Tony says, well, Ruben, we've never talked about this. I looked at my dad like he's never talked about it. And my dad says, well, I didn't think it'd be a problem. Well, it really wasn't a problem, but it, he kind of got blindsided, you know? So my dad says, well, I'll work on Tony.
0:28:17.8 Lee Anderson: He said, I know a friend that has a business that he had a small interest in. Homer and St. Paul. They had 13 employees. He says, you go over there and so forth. And then when Tony says, okay, then I'll bring you back. So I went over there and after the first week, the manager there, in those days, everybody had a pencil box of penciling picks up that throws it across the room. 'cause We were so small, we're all in the one little office. So, and the pencils go every place I quit. I said, well, John, what's wrong? He says, you asked too many questions and I suspect you're gonna be running this place anyway, so, well, he was right. I called my dad and said, dad, John quit. He says, well, you run it. So it was in one week. I went from nothing to managing this small company, but it was really small, and that was harmless.
0:29:14.1 Lee Anderson: That was 1964. And, and the company grew and we didn't have any money, nor did we have a lot of credit. So, but I was always interested in acquiring businesses. So the businesses we were acquiring were those that either were outta cash or had some problems of some kind, but basically were a good business. And we could buy it like for a dollar and so forth. The first two or three and we did this, and then over the years, we started to prosper a little more and we got a little credit, could borrow some money and so forth and so on. So for many years the last 15 or 20 years, we were buying large companies, some of them 4 or 500 millions in revenue. When I sold the company five years ago, we were doing 4 billion, and we had 20,000 employees today. And they took the company public. Today they're doing 8 billion with 30,000 employees. It's just amazing. But all through acquisition really, and some organic growth as well too, but very profitable. Great. And, mostly fire protection, but we're into a lot of things. We make garage doors and fiber grass installation, all construction related, either installation or manufacturing. But by far the largest segment of that would be the fire protection alarm and security business. And we're the, they're the largest now in the world. By quite a bit.
0:30:56.5 Dave Siri: And this all began from a 1926 company, the Reuben L. Anderson Mechanical Company.
0:31:02.8 Lee Anderson: Yeah. That's it. My dad started the installation in 1926. So we were about 98 years old now. And that's the same company that he sent me over to w at that point, they became a corporation and then split off from the plumbing company.
0:31:18.3 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:31:18.8 Lee Anderson: Yeah.
0:31:20.2 Dave Siri: What did you learn at West Point that helped you in the business world?
0:31:25.5 Lee Anderson: Well, interesting. I think that the, the single most important thing is to recognize the employees for what they really are. They, I didn't make this business. Our employees made it. And today, and as well as when I was there, we call every employee a leader, and everybody has the ability to lead in that company. We don't use the, the term employees anymore. '85, I had an opportunity to start an ESOP for the employees, which I did. I sold a third of the stock for three and a half million because I wanted to use that money to buy another company that I knew about... That outside of the API company. And with that ESOP program, when we sold our company wrote a check to employees for a billion dollars. I'm very proud of that. We have several hundred either... Well, many millionaires, but some of them are, they have like 10 million or more because they were there in 1985 when we first got the stock and the ESOP, we were very generous handing it out because it was free. And well, you just wanted to do that. So if you were there, then you, you really got a really good deal. And most of those people kept their stock and the new company. And since in the last five years, that's gone up four times. So now that billion dollars is $4 billion and it's all in the hands of the employees. And the thing I'm most proud about.
0:33:00.6 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. So that's. What you would consider your greatest success then, is taking care of your people.
0:33:04.5 Lee Anderson: Yeah. One of them. And it all started by recognizing them as leaders and not just employees. There's a difference in the, the, and for an individual to have a share of stock or a hundred thousand shares of stock makes all the difference in the world... But psychologically they said, I'm a part of this. And we treat them that way. We do a lot of relating back to them. The other aspect that I'm really proud of too is that we have a leadership development program, which I started. Not surprising, but most of those are academy graduates that are now working for our company. The graduates of this institution as well as other service academies are the greatest source. And now everybody's figured this out. The recruiters are looking for academy graduates.
0:34:00.9 Lee Anderson: But when we started this about 25 years ago, I mean, not so much, you know. And I'm proud to say I think we're one of the first and we've been recognized by US Chamber of Commerce for just that and with the Hire Our Heroes program that I've been involved in. So I'd say that is another thing that I'm very proud of. The company continues to hire leaders from the service academy, but not entirely. I mean, we've got a number of others, but I'd say right now there's about 40 West Point graduates running our companies and we have about 50 companies that make up the entire group. And I'd say half of those are being ran by West Point graduates.
0:34:52.5 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:34:52.6 Lee Anderson: And it's worked out terrific. Even some that came and then for whatever reason drifted off. Maybe it wasn't a perfect fit, went to work somewhere else. They're leading the companies that they left for.
0:35:02.5 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:35:05.3 Lee Anderson: Yeah.
0:35:06.2 Dave Siri: Over the years, approximately how many West Point grads have you had come through your company?
0:35:11.8 Lee Anderson: Oh, I'm going to say 60 or 70 that I can tell you about.
0:35:18.6 Dave Siri: Okay. Yes, sir. And do you find that members of the Long Gray Line bring something special that's not seen in others that come to your company?
0:35:28.5 Lee Anderson: Absolutely. Again, leaders of character is what we talk about here and there's nothing could be more true.
0:35:35.4 Lee Anderson: Yes, sir. Have you experienced, what challenges have you experienced with running your company?
0:35:47.0 Lee Anderson: Well, now that I'm retired, I can sit back and cherry pick a lot of things that they do. Public companies, I never wanted to be public. I mean, I knew how to do that and people came to me and said, you know, we can take you public. You can probably expect a two or three times equity increase. And I said, you know, I just don't want to do that because I don't know that I'd do well as a public company CEO. And I still feel that way. And probably even more so than the fellow that's running this huge company now is a really good friend of mine. And I hired him probably 25 years ago and knew almost instantly, and he's not an academy graduate, that he was really something special. And he's stayed there now this five years. And I think he's 59. I suspect he'll stay to 65. But with stock options, I think he's making 20 million a year or maybe more. I don't know.
0:36:50.0 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:36:50.9 Lee Anderson: But boy, he's worth it. He's terrific. But the thing that he's done, I'm proud to say, is he's still carrying on the same decisions that we made back when he first came to work there. And that seemed to work so well for us.
0:37:07.5 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:37:09.5 Lee Anderson: Yeah.
0:37:11.5 Dave Siri: Excellent. Now, sir, you are well known for your philanthropy and you support all kinds of organizations. Ducks Unlimited, US Sportsman's Alliance, International Seakeeper Society, in addition to academic institutions, including West Point.
0:37:23.0 Lee Anderson: Yeah. Well, I think a sense of giving has always been a strong sense in our family, starting with my dad. And of course, the numbers were a lot smaller then, but he taught me that you have to give back in order to get. And I believe that wholeheartedly. My wife and I, and she's a part of this as well, but we're most interested in Veterans Affairs, and that can be a whole lot of different things from trying to cure mental illness to finding jobs. And I think we probably commit ourselves to five or six different groups in that regard. And then the other thing is higher education, which would be West Point and another university that I'm involved in as well as the education, which I mentioned. But that's been the fun part for my wife and I. We've enjoyed being involved in these different organizations.
0:38:30.4 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. And what does it mean to you and your wife to be honored as one of the top 30 philanthropists in the country?
0:38:37.1 Lee Anderson: Well, I'm very proud of all that, of course. I don't like to dwell on what we do or don't do because that's just not my nature, but we're very proud of what we do. And I thought of the other thing too, it's children's health. We're very involved in three or four hospitals. We have a grandson that has a form of muscular dystrophy, and I think that really started our real intense interest in helping out and identify the genes and which they have since done. And, but it's not just, it's just not him. It's just all children's diseases that we're interested in.
0:39:27.6 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. And what values or attributes do you look for in the organizations that you choose to support?
0:39:32.0 Lee Anderson: I think we look for people that don't just give the money or take the money, but they also know how to spend the money. A lot of people have great causes, but they really don't know how to handle the money, and it just gets wasted. So we look for organizations that are willing to provide the help and to really go into the charity and then sit there to go to all the meetings, make sure that they're doing things correctly. So we look at that.
0:40:03.4 Dave Siri: And that's wonderful.
0:40:04.3 Lee Anderson: Yeah, it is.
0:40:05.5 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:40:06.2 Lee Anderson: These are all for children's organizations, which include include the boys and girls clubs and many different things like that.
0:40:15.6 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. So what is it meant to you to be honored as a Pantheon inductee dedicated to wildlife conservation around the world?
0:40:25.1 Lee Anderson: Well, that's a whole other story, of course, to the hunting. I've done a lot of hunting. I actually started hunting big game 42 years ago, and I had the opportunity to do a lot of that. Some people would say, well, you've done too much of it, but it's what I really enjoy. I just came back from a 20-day experience in Australia just a couple of days ago. But I love that. And I don't just shoot animals. I mean, I see it as a way to protect the animals and to make sure that there are people. The money that is spent on this all goes back into the countries that we go to, especially in Africa. If it wasn't for that, those people with the poaching and so forth would wipe out the entire race of animals. So the Pantheon is one of the, it's not the only one, but it's probably recognized as the most difficult award to win. You have to achieve a whole number of other hunting achievements, including the North American 29 animals.
0:41:37.2 Lee Anderson: We have 29 animals in North America. You have to have those. You have to have 30 species of wild sheep in the world, 30 species of wild goats in the world. And then on top of that, the Safari Club International has 26 diamond level groups. It might be all the oxen in the world or whatever, and you have to achieve all of that. So it's hard. It's not anything you're going to do in a day or two because I've probably been on 200 safaris in my life, and maybe a lot of them did for a single animal. So that was, those of us that are involved in hunting, that was a real recognition for me. And I was the 19th individual lifetime to have award. And there's 40,000 active hunters, and they're not all trying to get that award, but there's only been 19 of us ever achieved that.
0:42:38.6 Dave Siri: Wow. That's impressive. Now, sir, you mentioned some of the organizations that you support, for example, Children's Hospital in Boston. You also support University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.
0:42:49.6 Lee Anderson: Yes.
0:42:50.1 Dave Siri: And the Defenders Lodge in Palo Alto, California for veterans receiving care at the hospital. You mentioned Helping Our Heroes Program of the US Chamber of Commerce and Conservation Education, the Boone and Crockett Club in Montana. Are there any of those that you wish to touch on more?
0:43:10.8 Lee Anderson: Jim Nicholson, Secretary Nicholson, he's my classmate, and he and I are very good friends, and he's not above suggesting ways that I can help to do things like the Defenders Lodge. I'm very proud of that in San Jose. You know, these VA hospitals, they're great, but the veterans, they come there, and many of them don't have the money for a room, even, and this is a true story. I wouldn't have believed it, but they sleep in their car, but they need the care. So, they get there, and they sleep in their car. I said, well, that's terrible. So, he said, well, they want to build a Defenders Lodge for these people, and they're free of charge to veterans, and I think they've put some unbelievable amount of veterans through that lodge. It's like 250 rooms, and it's all free, everything, including the meals. I said, boy, I could get behind that one. That was really good.
0:44:09.2 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:44:09.8 Lee Anderson: But I like them all. Hire Our Heroes is the other big one. The statistics on that are just amazing. It's backed by the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, and they are continually hiring. They have groups go around the country, and a lot of people, that's one of the resources we use in my company to hire West Point graduates, as well as military. I will hire a veteran over anybody, regardless, and it has worked out so well for us, so well, and that's just not lip service. That's what we do.
0:44:49.1 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:44:50.4 Lee Anderson: Out of all of our employees, I think we're over 20% veteran leaders in the company.
0:44:58.4 Dave Siri: Well, that's wonderful.
0:45:00.3 Lee Anderson: That doesn't sound like a lot. I wish I could say it's 80, but 20 is a high number when you do the statistics.
0:45:08.4 Dave Siri: Sir, what do you feel are some of your greatest accomplishments?
0:45:13.1 Lee Anderson: Well, again, some of that, I guess, is probably obvious. I mean, I think I'm successful in business, mostly because I allow the people to do the decision-making, and I can sit back and orchestrate it, and I've always managed that way, to have these wonderful leaders doing everything, giving them the responsibility, and they'll take it up and run with it. I mean, people should do that. The way to lead, of course, is by turning over the leadership to other people.
0:45:46.0 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:45:47.5 Lee Anderson: I think we've done well in that with our business. I'm a person of faith. That's an important part of my wife and our mantra, and I know that's been very helpful as well, but... And you need to be appreciative of what's come your way. Never take anything for granted, and those are some of the things. Hard for me to talk about that, you know. I don't want to appear like, you know, Mr. Wonderful or anything, because I'm not.
0:46:27.3 Dave Siri: Right, sir.
0:46:27.3 Lee Anderson: I just had lots of opportunities, all because of this place. That's the one thing I will talk about. If I hadn't, like, I'd go back to that immaturity level. You can't graduate here and still be very immature. Somewhere along the line, you have to drink the Kool-Aid and figure out that isn't going to work. So that's why people come here.
0:46:56.9 Dave Siri: So do you still have anything on your to-do list?
0:46:58.8 Lee Anderson: Well, I'm still working on a few things, but I mostly just enjoy life now. And my wife and I, we go up to that little cabin up in Nisswa, Minnesota, and sit out there and say, boy, isn't life wonderful? You know, look at the lake. And it really is.
0:47:12.4 Dave Siri: Do you have any regrets, sir?
0:47:13.9 Lee Anderson: No.
0:47:15.5 Dave Siri: Okay.
0:47:18.8 Lee Anderson: I have no regrets. Otherwise, I go back and say I would have liked to have had a career in the military. That is one of the best things. And my wife and I, we attended the one to Normandy here back a few years.
0:47:29.4 Dave Siri: We have some fabulous staff rides in the history department that are well-subscribed by the cadets, and they are life-changing.
0:47:38.6 Lee Anderson: Yeah.
0:47:39.3 Dave Siri: The things they learn on those staff rides.
0:47:41.0 Lee Anderson: And it was, we had so much fun. We had like 14 cadets with us and then four professors that went with us. And boy, we loved it. And just being for a couple of weeks, being with the cadets for all the meals and listening to them and so forth, it restated my belief in how wonderful a job we do here. And it's a bit expensive, but boy, I'd always endow that. And they've added a number of more new ones. I mean, it was always Gettysburg and Normandy and, you know, I mean, but now they've got some really interesting things. The way they have it, each cadet has an opportunity to talk about the day's events, and they have to study them. You know, we went to see the Pegasus Bridge. It was always one of my favorites in France.
0:48:31.3 Lee Anderson: And the story behind how the Brits came in with their gliders at night and the Germans were so drunk, they didn't even hear the gliders land. You're not supposed to hear them land. But they were able to get over the bridge. They knew where all the detonation points were because they were ready to blow that bridge. But just being there and listening to people on the ground.
0:48:53.2 Dave Siri: Wonderful.
0:48:53.9 Lee Anderson: Yeah.
0:48:54.9 Dave Siri: Now, sir, through your giving to West Point and all the programs you endow and things like that, how do you hope to inspire the Corps of Cadets through the programs you support?
0:49:06.8 Lee Anderson: You know, we all recognize that the Department of Defense does not provide the funds for some of the niceties that people like myself and others who can give some money and promote some projects here can do. And so I hope that they see what we're doing. The East Stadium now is the gorilla in the room. And, boy, that's going to be nice when we do it in two years. I was so pleased to see how they took down that building in two weeks.
0:49:36.9 Lee Anderson: That's going to be exciting. And things like that, that we're graduates. I would like to see more graduates get involved. And it doesn't have to be financially. It has to become emotionally involved in what's going on here. And there's always going to be a few that'll say, and I've heard them in the past, that say, well, West Point didn't really do anything for me, believe it or not. And I just can't believe that. I said, well, if I had the chance to visit with these people, I said, we can identify some things that it's done for you. You say that, but that can't be possible. You couldn't have gone here and not been improved as a matter of being here. So I think what I'd like to continue to do.
0:50:23.3 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:50:25.0 Lee Anderson: I just can't say enough about West Point. My whole life has revolved around that. And my last, not my entire life, but my last 25 years or so. Been very pleased to be able to help.
0:50:40.7 Dave Siri: If you could share one thing with fellow West Point graduates, what would it be?
0:50:48.0 Lee Anderson: I think we could do a little better job in the AOG convincing graduates to get on board earlier rather than later. Like there was a period of probably 25 years that I was missing out, but didn't really realize that. You know, you're busy in either in your military career, your business career, wherever it is. So wealth of talent in the graduate core that if we could get them to understand, you need to come back and get involved. That would really help.
0:51:18.5 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:51:20.3 Lee Anderson: And it's, there are so many graduates that have done so well, mostly because they went here, but are doing well, but really aren't participating in the reason that they did well.
0:51:35.9 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:51:37.6 Lee Anderson: That's the connection we have to make. I think everybody understands that. And I think it's getting better. You know, I know there's four or five names of people that just a few years ago weren't doing anything. Today they're at the top of the list.
0:51:55.1 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:51:56.8 Lee Anderson: Somebody has to keep talking to them. And I talked to some of these people too and encouraged them to be more helpful financially.
0:52:10.1 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. Now, you've talked about this a little bit already, but your motto, your family motto, Growing Up Anderson, how do you compare Growing Up Anderson to the Cadet Honor Code?
0:52:26.7 Lee Anderson: Well, I think the Honor Code is the basis for everything that happens here. I would hate to see the academy go away from that. I know we've got a new definition of duty, honor, and country. I understand they're not saying it's not duty, honor, and country, but they've embellished that a little bit to include more things. People smarter than I working on that, I guess. But boy, that's the basis of my life. And I believe in it so strongly. Everything I do, I think about, is this the honorable thing to do?
0:53:06.3 Dave Siri: Yes, sir.
0:53:06.4 Lee Anderson: And I've always been that way.
0:53:09.7 Dave Siri: Sir, what does your service to the nation mean to you?
0:53:15.1 Lee Anderson: I think having the opportunity to give back to the nation, vis-a-vis West Pointer could be in many different ways and so forth, has been the cornerstone of my life. And I wouldn't trade it for anything. I think we all, every graduate has the opportunity to do that. And they have to sit down and reflect on what's really important to them. And I imagine in some cases, it's not particularly important to them, but it should be.
0:53:51.2 Dave Siri: Final question for you, sir. And you've talked about this throughout the interview.
0:53:56.7 Lee Anderson: Yes.
0:53:57.3 Dave Siri: But just to encapsulate it, what does West Point mean to you?
0:54:04.0 Lee Anderson: West Point is the greatest institution that I'm aware of, that we have in this country. You think of the outstanding individuals in this country, a large number of West Point graduates. And I'm very proud. I've had friends whose sons and daughters have gone here, mostly sons, but who didn't see the value in it, and I've never been able to understand that. They weren't here long enough to really feel the benefits of it. They're there, the benefits are there, but they don't feel them right away. You have to be more mature in life before you can really understand what it's done. But in my life, it's been the key to everything. And it's not just success, it's everything else that's important to everybody.
0:54:57.0 Dave Siri: Yes, sir. Sir, thank you so much for sharing your story with us.
0:55:04.6 Lee Anderson: Yes.
0:55:07.6 Dave Siri: This has been phenomenal.
0:55:07.7 Lee Anderson: Thank you for listening.
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