Dr. Jim Anderson was a no-nonsense kind of guy. He always told it like it was, whether speaking to his family, his colleagues or the patients at his self-established dental practice.
“People definitely knew he was in the room,” said his wife of 42 years, Katherine “Kathy” Anderson. “He never held back his thoughts or opinions, and he was real straightforward in how he felt about things.”
This boldness was a trait that made Anderson stand out at Dunwoody Oral Surgery. Not only was he brutally honest, he was always striving for perfection in his work, often staying up all hours of the night preparing himself for a big surgery, said his father-in-law, John Scott III.
“I remember him staying up all half the night sometimes planning and studying an intricate case coming the next day,” he said. “He had to have everything just so. It had to be perfect.”
Dr. James Dwight Anderson Jr., called Jim, died Monday from complications of prostate cancer at Hospice Atlanta. He was 65. His body was cremated by Southcare Cremation and Funeral Society, which was also in charge of the arrangements. His memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. today at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Atlanta.
Anderson received his doctorate in dental surgery from Emory University School of Dentistry in 1975 before completing his residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington. He moved back to Atlanta in 1979 to establish James D. Anderson Jr., D.D.S., PC, now known as Dunwoody Oral Surgery, from which he retired early this year.
Nina Pashnyak, a surgical technician who worked alongside Anderson at Dunwoody Oral for eight years, remembers just how important his work was to him. He almost never took a day off and he always did everything he could to help his patients, using his honesty as an important business staple, she said.
“He would treat patients sometimes when they couldn’t afford it,” she said. “He would tell them the truth about their condition and explain it to them in detail. This was his life, and he was very good at it.”
Even when away from his office, Anderson was still on the job. He responded to emergency calls throughout the night, often making unplanned trips to the emergency room to perform surgeries. He never shied away from a challenge, and he thoroughly enjoyed what he did, said his son, Michael James Anderson.
“He wasn’t a nine-to-five doctor,” he said. “Seventy-five percent of his nights were gobbled up by emergency calls where he would run to the ER at one or two in the morning. He wasn’t a doctor for the money, he lived to work and help people.”
In addition to his wife and son, Anderson is survived by one daughter, Laura Scott Gudipalley of Atlanta; parents, Joan Ammerman Anderson and James Dwight Anderson Sr. of Lakeland, Fla.; one sister, Linda Anderson of Deacon, N.Y.; two brothers, David Anderson of Tampa, Fla. and Thomas Anderson of Fernandina Beach, Fla.; and one grandson.
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