Donald E. Sanderson

Torrey, Utah - Donald Eugene Sanderson, 89, of Torrey, Utah, passed away on January 17, 2016. Born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1926 to Arlo and Laura (Goudy) Sanderson, he served two years in the military, June 1944 through the occupation forces in Germany. He met his future wife, Carol Mary Shaw, at Cornell College, where he received his B.A in 1949. He earned his master’s in mathematical theory from California Institute of Technology in 1951 and his Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1953. Don was a published and awarded math professor of topology at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, until his retirement in 1991. Widowed in 1989, he met his second wife, Clotilde Barrett, at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. Since 1996, they lived in Torrey, Utah, and had traveled and hiked together extensively. Don loved the outdoors, playing cribbage and word games, and producing eye-rolling puns. He is survived by his younger brother Richard A. Sanderson of Hawaii, second wife Clotilde Barrett of Utah, and three children with Carol (Shaw) Sanderson: Robert C. Sanderson and wife, Nancy, of Colorado; Mark A. Sanderson and wife, Carol, of Iowa; and Karen A. Sanderson of New Mexico. He is also survived by five grandchildren, five great grandchildren, and many relatives and friends. He is preceded in death by his parents, older brother Robert Sanderson, older sister Shirley (Sanderson) Boyce, and wife Carol (Shaw) Sanderson. A memorial service in Iowa will be scheduled at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to an Alzheimer’s research organization.