Prominent Chattanooga attorney and developer John Anderson died Saturday at age 65.
Anderson worked with the Chattanooga law firm Grant Konvalinka & Harrison for 30 years. He specialized in commercial real estate law, helping to develop apartments and shopping centers throughout Tennessee and Georgia. He also had served as East Ridge city attorney.
Most recently, Anderson was involved in an effort to develop the former Lines Orchids property in Walden into a shopping center complex.
Anderson and landowner LOP LLC won approval for the $15 million project in late 2019 from the town board after some contentious public meetings. But in early 2020, some Walden and Hamilton County citizens filed a lawsuit against the town and the developers to stop the project.
Hamilton County judges recused themselves and the case was assigned to Bradley County Circuit Court Judge J. Michael Sharp. In August, the judge ruled against Anderson and LOP, saying an ordinance passed earlier by Walden officials to permit the proposed supermarket was illegal. Anderson later filed a notice of appeal in the case.
Anderson was born on April 7, 1956, in Nashville to parents Robert "Bob" and Beatrice "Bea" Anderson and was raised in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, according to an obituary on the Hamilton Funeral Home & Cremation Services website.
He was a Brock Scholar at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and he attended law school at the University of Cincinnati at Toledo. He returned to Chattanooga to practice law. He married Teresa Lynn Anderson and raised their daughter Lacy, according to the obituary.
It said Anderson was an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy novels, and that he taught an adult Sunday school class at Mountain Creek Church of Christ for 26 years, as well as directing Vacation Bible School and youth activities.
He was preceded in death by parents Bob and Bea Anderson, and is survived by his wife Lynn; his daughter Dr. Lacy Windham and her husband Eric; brother Steve; and three grandchildren.
The obituary said that funeral services will be held on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the chapel of Hamilton Funeral Home in Hixson. Visitation will be on Tuesday from 5-7 p.m. at the funeral home prior to the service in the chapel.