Roland Anderson, A-Bomb Patent Lawyer

Roland A. Anderson, 97, a patent lawyer for the Manhattan Project and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, died Feb. 28 of congestive heart failure at Suburban Hospital.

Mr. Anderson was born in Brockton, Mass. He received his undergraduate degree from Upsala College in East Orange, N.J., and a law degree from Columbia University and was admitted to the New York bar in 1932.

From 1932 to 1942, when he enlisted in the Navy, he was a lawyer with two New York firms, Sheffield & Betts and Edward Bower & Poole.

As a Navy officer, Mr. Anderson served from 1942 to 1946 as deputy adviser on patent matters, Office of Scientific Research and Development, and from 1944 to 1946 as deputy chief of the Manhattan Engineer District, better known as the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb.

"No man had greater insight into the technical details of the entire project than [Capt. R. A.] Lavender and his chief deputy, Roland A. Anderson, for they examined all the detailed inventions made," Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves, director of the project, wrote in his book, "Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project."

When Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal presented Mr. Anderson the Navy Commendation Medal in 1946, he noted that because of "his keen judgment and legal knowledge in effecting the settlement of difficult technical situations, he made possible the assembly of records defining the government's basis for the rights under all such inventions."

Mr. Anderson retired from the Navy with the rank of commander in 1946.

Following his military career, he served as chief of the Patent Branch of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission from its inception in 1947 to 1959. He was assistant general counsel for patents from 1959 until his second retirement in 1973.

He served on the Ad Hoc Committee of the Federal Council for Science and Technology, which developed the Presidential Patent Policy Statement of 1963, and in 1971 was vice chairman of the Committee on Government Patent Policy of the Federal Council for Science and Technology. He also was chairman of the committee's executive subcommittee.

He continued to serve as a private patent consultant for a number of years. He contributed articles to professional periodicals and spoke before organizations on patent matters.

A member of the Federal Bar Association and the Government Patent Lawyers Association, he also was active in his community. He was a member of Augustana Lutheran Church in the District for more than 50 years and a member for 25 years of the board of directors of the Chevy Chase Fire Department. He also was involved with the Hamlet Citizens Association and was a member of the American Legion.

He enjoyed golf (scoring a hole-in-one in 1978), bowling, home movies and travel throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. At age 94, he accompanied his family to Alaska, where he went whitewater rafting.

Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Sarah Grandstaff Anderson of Chevy Chase; a daughter, Beth Offutt of Malvern, Pa.; and two grandchildren.