[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 179 (Friday, November 8, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      TRIBUTE TO HONOR THE LIFE OF MARY MARGARET ``MOO'' ANDERSON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, November 8, 2019

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of an 
extraordinary woman and legendary supporter of art and artists, Mary 
Margaret Anderson, affectionately known to all as ``Moo''.
  Moo was born in Boston in 1926 and died on October 22, 2019, at the 
age of 92. She was a graduate of D'Youville College and met her husband 
Harry, known as Hunk, in 1948. While in college, Hunk started a food 
service business, Saga Corporation. After Moo and Hunk married in 1950, 
they moved to Ohio and then to California to expand the business.
  A trip to Europe and a visit to the Louvre in the 1960's ignited Moo 
and Hunk's love for contemporary art. They began collecting art which 
reflected their beliefs in the importance of `head and hands', or 
ingenuity as well as masterful craftsmanship. They wanted to see the 
creativity of the artist but also wanted to know that real work went 
into the art. Much of the family's art collection was hung in their 
one-story Silicon Valley home and in the Saga headquarters in Menlo 
Park. The collection contained important Abstract Expressionists, Color 
Field Painting, Post-Minimalism, California Funk Art, Bay Area 
Figurative Art, and Contemporary abstract painting. Many of the most 
significant works are now housed in the Anderson Collection at Stanford 
University, a collection of 121 works by 86 artists which the Andersons 
donated in 2014. Two important works by Jackson Pollock and Willem De 
Koonig were donated shortly before Moo's death, adding to paintings by 
Helen Frankenthaler, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell, 
Frank Stella, Wayne Thiebaud and many other important American artists.
  In addition to the eponymous museum at Stanford, the Andersons 
donated works to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Fine 
Arts Museums of San Francisco, among others.
  Moo loved her husband, daughter, granddaughter, philanthropy, and 
golf. She gave generously of her time and considerable talents in 
service to Sacred Heart Schools, St. Francis Center, and Stanford 
Hospital, and she taught children through Art in Action in Menlo Park.
  On hearing of Moo's death, Stanford University President Marc 
Tessier-Levigne, said ``Moo Anderson will forever be remembered for her 
love of art, but also for her love of sharing art. She opened her home 
so that students could have that same experience of looking and 
learning about art. We are so deeply grateful that Moo and Hunk trusted 
Stanford to be stewards of their remarkable collection and enable 
people of all ages to experience it on a daily basis.''
  Moo was predeceased by her husband Hunk, and leaves her daughter Mary 
Patricia ``Putter'' Anderson Pence and her beloved granddaughter, Devin 
Pence. She will be deeply missed by them and by all who had the good 
fortune to know her. Her legacy will live on through the magnificent 
art she and Hunk have so generously shared with Stanford and all of us.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the 
extraordinary life of an extraordinary woman and expressing our 
condolences to her daughter, granddaughter and the thousands who loved 
her and mourn her passing.

                          ____________________