Death Notices
Anderluh, John Russell
A former top executive for Moore Business Forms, and a star athlete who won the 1954 Ivy League batting championship, John Russell Anderluh most valued the designation he gained in life as a stalwart family man. Father of four, grandfather to eight, and greatgrandfather to four more, John passed away Feb. 10, 2023, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. A resident of Glenview, Illinois, for more than six decades, he was 88 years old. Throughout his life, John credited his mother, Rose Barone Anderluh, and father, John Anderluh, in Niagara Falls, New York, for a loving upbringing that laid the foundation for his many successes. With his wife, Patricia Buell Anderluh, John created his own family-first environment for their four children and took tremendous pride in his kids’ educational, professional, and athletic achievements as they raised their own tightknit families.
A standout star in two sports at Niagara Falls High School, where he is enshrined in the athletic Hall of Fame, John went on to attend Cornell University, where he lettered in football and baseball and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history. As a 5-foot-11, 195-pound lineman, John played for Cornell when the Big Red’s football schedule featured some of the most prominent schools in the country. He is said to have participated in a tackle that brought down the great Jim Brown during Cornell’s 14-6 victory over Syracuse on Nov. 6, 1954. But it was in baseball that John most excelled, hitting .391 in his sophomore season to win the Charles H. Blair Bat Award, emblematic of the Ivy League’s top hitter by average. He captained the 1956 Cornell baseball team.
After graduating in 1956, John was invited to try out for the minor leagues, but ultimately reconsidered his childhood dream of becoming a professional baseball player. Instead, he proposed to Patricia outside the Cornell football stadium and took an entry-level job with Toronto-based Moore Corp. in his hometown of Niagara Falls., where they began their family. In 1957, John was drafted into the Army and assigned to Fort Gordon, Georgia, where he served his country as a member of the Signal Corps. After an honorable discharge, John transferred to Chicago as a hard-charging salesman for Moore Business Forms. Closing major deals with corporate giants such as IBM, he earned promotions to district and then regional manager. With a reputation for smart, fair, clear-eyed leadership, he continued his corporate climb, and was named general manager of Moore’s Response Graphics direct mail division, which he helped launch. In 1983, he was promoted to vice president of sales and marketing at Moore Business Forms; in 1986, he was made president of the division; in 1989, Moore, with annual sales of $2.6 billion, made him chief operating officer and group president of U.S. operations. The same year, John and Pat attended the 70th birthday party of publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes in Morocco. Other attendees included Henry Kissinger, Elizabeth Taylor, Walter Cronkite, Calvin Klein, and Fran Leibowitz, among dozens of luminaries from the worlds of business, politics, and entertainment. The Harvard Business Review noted in a December 1993 article that under John, Moore, at that time the largest producer of business forms in the world, had become a worldwide leader in recycling. “Indeed,” the article stated, “the commitment of Moore’s president and chief operating officer, John Anderluh, to environmentally responsible products has allowed the company to expand its customer base. Moore’s ReGenesis paper has been its fastest growing product line since the company began offering it in 1990.”
Even as he kept a demanding work schedule, John was a dedicated husband and father. His children can’t recall a time he missed one of their sports events, school plays, or awards ceremonies. He continued to excel in sports, competitive in golf (a 12 handicap at his best and four holes in one), as well as tennis, racquet ball, and a family favorite: croquet. He was a devout parishioner at St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church in Glenview.
John retired from Moore in 1994, and went on to enjoy many years of golf, cards, and good times with close friends and family in Glenview, where he kept the downstairs bar well stocked and the backyard pool skimmed. In an annual family rite, John and Pat took their children and their growing families on summer trips to Florida, Cape Cod, Colorado, Wyoming, and most memorably, for more than a dozen years running, to Jameson Beach in South Lake Tahoe.
Preceded in death by his mother and father, and his granddaughter, Shea Anderluh, John is survived by his wife, Patricia; daughters Linda Henning and Deborah Anderluh, sons John Anderluh and Brian Anderluh; sons-in-law Greg Henning and Andy Furillo; daughters-in-law Elizabeth Schroeder Anderluh and Winnie Buckley Anderluh; grandchildren Alex, Jacob, Andy, Megan, Jamie, John, Michael; and four great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, with services to follow at 10 a.m. at N.H. Scott & Hanekamp Funeral Home, 1240 Waukegan Rd., Glenview. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that friends consider a donation to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research(www.michaeljfox.org) . Funeral information 847-998-1020.