Dick Anderson , Founder
Richard Anderson will be remembered by the people who knew and loved him not only for his impressive accomplishments, but also for the force of his vibrant personality, his lofty principles, both personal and professional, and his zest for living life to the fullest.

His accomplishments include:

ò  Graduated high school 1959.  President of his class and a lettered athlete

ò  1959-1962 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH

ò  Fought forest fires in Alaska

ò  Hitch-hiked his way cross-country to get home

ò  Married Maryann Hussey in October 1963 and they had a son, John, and a daughter, Sarah.

ò  Worked his way up to VP and General Manager in 10 years at Hodgson Houses, prefab housing company

ò  1973, founder, owner and president of Plumb House, Inc., originally a carpentry sub-contractor and then a self-performing general contractor specializing in multi-family housing

ò  1985, co-founded RAM Contracting, Inc., a sitework company, in Lexington, MA

ò  1988, founder of Advance Concrete, an affiliate concrete company

ò  1992, owner of Hamden Development, a real estate development company

ò  1994, owner of Dalton Builders, Inc, an affiliate carpentry labor contractor

ò  2006, owner of Grafton Electric, Inc., an affiliate electrical contractor

ò  2009, owner of WW Construction, Inc., an affiliate sitework company

ò  Member of various trade associations, including Associated Builders and Contractors (served as president of ABC in 1986); Builders Association of Greater Boston; Rental Housing Association; National Association of Home Builders; Merit Construction Alliance; American Concrete Institute; MA Assisted Living Association

ò  Served as Chairman of the Fair Wage Committee in 1988; sat on the Fort Devens Redevelopment Board; was on the campaign finance committee for governors Weld and Cellucci; was appointed by Governor Swift to the Board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority 2002-2005

ò  Among the charities he supported were the Pan Mass Challenge for Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Emmaus Cycle for Shelter and The Rodman Ride for Kids; Toys for Tots; Caritas Communities; B’nai B’rith; My Brother’s Keeper; Traveling Tradesmen; Heifers International, Jesuit Volunteer Corps East; Diamonds of Dorchester for St. Mary’s Center for Women & Children; and many other worthwhile causes.

Dick’s construction business was a major part of his identity.  He was proud of his product, proud of his people and passionate about the industry.  Many of his professional contacts evolved into friends. He treated everyone from the customer to the laborer on site with the same respect.  Every meeting he was in seemed to be punctuated with sounds of laughter.  He enjoyed what he did, he did it well, and his enthusiasm was boundless and contagious.  He had an innate optimism and would often proclaim some good will come of this. 

Construction has typically fared better under Republican than Democratic leadership, and Dick worked tirelessly for Republican local and national candidates, organizing, and contributing to, countless political fundraisers through the years.  He also worked to promote the merit shop philosophy, which pays and promotes employees on their effort, ambition and achievement.  He was a proponent for retaining 40B, Massachusetts’ landmark affordable housing statute.  Plumb House put an estimated 18,000 housing units on the market in the last 36 years, and Dick would nostalgically visit old projects now and again.

As much as he loved construction, he loved his family more, and he was thrilled when John and Sarah joined him in the business.  Richard was a single father to his two children for many years, and they managed to craft a system (which he jokingly called benign neglect) that fostered independence and worked out satisfactorily for everyone.  John attended Wentworth and Sarah attended Bentley, and they flourished at school as they had at home.  John has been at Plumb House for 15 years and Sarah for 5, and between them they have the field and administrative aspects of the business covered.  Much to Richard’s delight, grandchildren followed Rachel, Jacob and Tess for Sarah and her husband Anthony, and Jordan for John and his wife Chris.  He loved babysitting his grandchildren so their parents could enjoy a date night.  He enjoyed taking them fun places and probably increased their consumption of ice cream and popcorn by half.  His Christmas present of choice for the kids was books, mostly because he enjoyed reading to them so much. 

Richard played as enthusiastically as he worked, and everything that appealed to him, from recreation to books, he was moved to share with others.  The last couple of years he put more than 5,000 miles a year on his bicycle, and rode many century charity rides, the favorite of which was the Pan Mass Challenge for the Jimmy Fund.  He was captain of his team of 9 riders, and the company raised upwards of $40,000 each year for cancer research and treatment.  Donations to the PMC on his behalf following his death are currently over $36,600.  He was also an avid skier, and introduced his grandchildren to the sport he loved.  For 25 years he enjoyed spending time on his 35’ sailboat, Misty, which was named after a beloved family dog.  He was so fond of Misty, that he had a line-drawing of it painted on one of the walls in his house.  The house, which last year underwent a gut-rehab, was also a source of great pleasure and comfort to him.  The pool in the backyard often sported squealing children and their parents and friends.  That’s where he hosted his daughter’s wedding, and a picture of it was the screensaver on his computer.  He had it lovingly landscaped, and took special pride in the heated shed at the end of his concrete driveway.  The shed has a TV, but the house never did.  He preferred reading in front of the fireplace.

Dick was a natural born extrovert.  It’s been said that he could make a friend in an elevator between the lobby and the fifth floor.  He would engage everyone in conversation, because he was so genuinely interested in their lives.  He listened with a finely-honed focus that made everyone feel special.  Many waiters or waitresses fielded questions about their lives in the course of serving him dinner.  Dick relished his long-standing friendships and would often make a point of visiting old friends that he was not able to see on a regular basis.

After a long search, Dick had recently found a spiritual home at Chapel of the Cross in Westborough and again became actively involved in a church. He would have been pleased that his services were held there, and that so many people came to pay their respects.  And he would have loved the slide show on the “Jumbotron.”  The honorable John McCann, his neighbor on Flanders Road, and his friend Bill Lane from Superior Plumbing, a recurring subcontractor, offered moving eulogies from two different and complementary perspectives.  He will be missed by many, but most profoundly his family and his “Plumb House family”.  We are better people for the privilege of having known him, and cherish our memories of our years together.