Lee R. Anderson ’61 and his wife Penny are the major donors for the Defenders Lodge – a state of the art hotel for service men and women receiving care at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. The Lodge officially opened on October 8, 2013 on the VA Palo Alto campus. This 52 room, 104 bed, 34,000 square foot gift from the PenFed (Pentagon Federal Credit Union) Foundation ensures that veterans who couldn’t otherwise afford first-class care can now share a free room with their caregivers. Anderson’s company employs about 10,000 men and women, and he recently told his management team that going forward he wanted to hire only veterans. At first his request was met with resistance, however, he responded “yes I can and we will.”
Six of Anderson’s classmates were in attendance during the ribbon cutting ceremony, including former Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Jim Nicholson.