JOHN E. ANDRUS III ’33

JOHN E. ANDRUS III ’33, the director and chairman emeritus of the Surdna Foundation, Inc., and a businessman whose family’s philanthropic endeavors included the University, died Dec. 27, 2012. He was 103.

A member of Alpha Delta Phi, he was the great-grandson of Loyal B. Andrus of the class of 1838 and the grandson of John E. Andrus of the class of 1862. He attended the University of Minnesota Law School and practiced law until World War II, when he served in the U.S. Army. Following the war, he established the Deep Draw Corporation in Minneapolis, a metal fabricating plant that he headed for 30 years.

He was active on a variety of boards for civic and non-profit organizations in Wayzata and in Minneapolis, Minn., and was a life trustee of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Nature Conservancy for two years, he received both their Oakleaf and Chevron awards. He was director and chairman emeritus of the New York-based Surdna Foundation, Inc., and was a director of the Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial in Yonkers, N.Y., and the John E. Andrus Memorial in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. The Foundation’s mission is to foster sustainable communities in the United States—communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, strong local economies, and thriving cultures

At Wesleyan, the Surdna Foundation provided the funding for the John E. Andrus Center for Public Affairs, as well as funding for the library, the football and baseball fields (Andrus Field), and North College, a former dormitory that now serves as the primary administration building. His wife, Marion Haynes Andrus, predeceased him, as did his a cousin, David S. Williams ’51. Among those who survive are three daughters; seven grandchildren, including Megan Kelly ’06; one great-grandchild; one brother; and several nephews, including Colebert L. Andrus ’63, Winthrop Davenport Jr. ’64, and James D. Andrus ’66.