M. D. Anderson - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Per the Texas State Historical Association's "Handbook of Texas Online" website:

"Monroe Dunaway (M. D.) Anderson, philanthropist, was born on June 29, 1873, in Jackson, Tennessee, the sixth of eight children of James Wisdom and Ellen (Dunaway) Anderson. James Anderson was first president of the First National Bank of Jackson. As a young man M. D. Anderson was a banker in Jackson, Tennessee. In 1904 he joined his brother, Frank Ervin Anderson, and the latter's brother-in-law, William Lockhart Clayton, in establishing Anderson, Clayton and Company, a partnership that eventually grew into the world's largest cotton merchandiser. Anderson moved to Houston, Texas, about 1907 to take advantage of the city's proximity to the port of Galveston and its superior banking resources. Houston became the company's headquarters in 1916, and Anderson served as its treasurer until illness forced his retirement in 1938. The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, initially funded by a substantial gift from the M. D. Anderson Foundation to the University of Texas, is Anderson's best-known philanthropy. The foundation, established before Anderson's death, received the bulk of his large estate. Anderson was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Democratic party, but was not active in church or in politics. He never married. He lived for thirty years in a succession of downtown Houston hotels. He died in that city on August 6, 1939, after a year-long illness and was buried in Jackson, Tennessee.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: William B. Bates, "Monroe D. Anderson: His Life and Legacy," Texas Gulf Coast Historical Association Publications 1.1 (February 1957). Houston Post, August 7, 1939."

Marker Number: 10595 Marker Text: Tennessee native Monroe Dunaway (M.D.) Anderson (1873-1939) joined his brother Frank and William L. and Ben Clayton in an Oklahoma cotton merchandising business in 1904. Anderson served as chief financial officer for the business, known as Anderson, Clayton & Company. In 1907 he moved to Houston and opened a branch office for the company in Houston's original Cotton Exchange building at the corner of Travis and Franklin streets. Anderson, Clayton & Company moved its main offices to Houston in 1916 and in 1923 moved here to the Houston Cotton Exchange building. They prospered and became the leading merchants in the global cotton market. Anderson never married and lived frugally in downtown hotels. In 1936 he established a charitable foundation with the fortune he made in the cotton business. Upon his death in 1939, $20 million of his estate was willed to the M. D. Anderson Foundation. The Texas Legislature authorized the creation of a cancer research hospital in 1941. Upon learning this, trustees of the M.D. Anderson Foundation successfully bid for the institution and helped finance it. The M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Texas Medical Center which the M.D. Anderson Foundation created have become world renowned institutions. (1994)

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