Clifton Leon Anderson – 50th Reunion Essay

Clifton Leon Anderson

251 Lavender Ln.

Patterson, CA 95363

ClifAnd@aol.com

408-205-0060

Spouse(s): Chantha

Child(ren): Safyre, Zenon, Fiara, Raya, Myana

Grandchild(ren):

Education: Yale BS, U Michigan PhD, U Missouri JD

National Service:

Career: Patent Lawyer

Avocations: Videoing, Computer Music

College: Morse

After graduating from Yale with a B.S. in math with a minor in physics, I attended the University of Michigan to obtain my PhD in psychology. I became an assistant professor of home economics / human development at the University of Missouri at Columbia, where I directed “Small World,” a preschool in which every family was from a different country. In the meantime, I attended the law school there, graduating in 1980. I worked at Fitch, Even, & Tabin for a couple of years in Chicago, and decided I’d rather follow my siblings to California. I worked as in-house patent counsel for Hughes Aircraft Company in Southern California and then Fairchild Semiconductor in Northern California. I finally started my own law firm in 1985, which devolved into a solo practice, in which form it remains.

While working at Hughes, I met my future wife, Chantha, a refugee of Pol Pot’s Killing Fields, whose grandmother, father, mother, and six siblings miraculously escaped to Japan. Their story is much more interesting than mine, by the way. We had five kids, Safyre, Zenon, Fiara, Raya, and Myana. All kids learned Chinese dance at the Academy of Chinese Performing Arts, where I have served as volunteer video director for almost a quarter century. The last two hopefully will finish up their college educations in 2018 so maybe I’ll be able to make more than I spend for once.