Teacher brought energy to special-ed classes

As a physical education teacher with special-needs training, Paul Timothy Anderson had an innate understanding of children with disabilities and instantly couldturn a boring school day intoa memorable adventure.

During a recent life-skills class at Brashear High School, he held an impromptu dance-athon for students, some with autism among other disabilities, including one in a wheelchair.

“He’s in there dancing with the kids and he’s not a dancer,” said Megan Perfetti, a Brashear health teacher. “A para-educator in the room couldn’t stop bragging about how he jumped right in with the kids, and the kids had so much fun that they were talking about it after class. It’s not something that happens a lot with these kids.”

As it turns out, Mr. Anderson, 34, of Shadyside, long had been dancing with his own health challenges that provided insights about his students’ lives but claimed his life unexpectedly on Saturday.

With type 1 diabetes since age 3, he generally was wellmanaged but prone to lowblood sugar seizures often leading to serious falls.

On Saturday, his parents said, their son was showering when his roommate left, only to return eight hours later to find the shower still running, with Mr. Anderson deceased in the bathtub. Apparently low blood sugar caused him to fall and hit his head, contributing to his death.

Paul E. and Paulette Palanzo Anderson of McCandless discussed their son’s insulin-dependent diabetes to offer insights about the challenging condition that also shaped his personality. “It made him resilient and changed his outlook on life in later years. All the trials and tribulations he endured gave him a connection to kids with disabilities,” Mrs. Anderson said. “He knew what they were going through.”

Mr. Anderson, a 2002 graduate of North Allegheny High School, was a high school baseball pitcher who also played in leagues throughout the region. He earned a degree in health and physical education in 2007 from Slippery Rock University, where he received a master’s degree last year in special education with an emphasis on autism.

As a child he attended Camp Crestfield in Slippery Rock, where he later served as a diabetes counselor. He also counseled children with Down syndrome at Camp Shriver in Slippery Rock.

Beginning in 2008, he served as a substitute teacher in city schools, including Oliver High School, Pittsburgh Sterrett 6-8, Langley High School and the Obama Academy. In 2010, he put teaching on hold to open Palanzo’s Beer Distributorship in Bloomfield, which he closed in 2016 to return to teaching, leading to the recent full-time substitute position at Brashear.

“Oh, my God, Anderson was awesome with the kids,” said Ms. Perfetti, also noting the occasional low-bloodsugar episode that recently requiredher “to stuff a nutrition bar into his mouth.” Otherwise,he was “a calming soul.”

“Everything about him — the way he worked with special-needs kids — was unique, and very few people have this quality about them to more or less understand where someone is coming from, even if you don’t have the disability,” she said. “Because of diabetes, he understood about feeling different.”

Diabetes never interfered with his personality, wit and penchant to keep and maintain friendships.

His former North Allegheny teacher, Lori McNeely of McCandless, said they remained friends after he graduated, and he would drop in for visits, including a recent one, during which he mentored her son Conor, 10.

“He had a zest for life with a great personality, a charming laugh and wit about that was endearing,” she said. “I was stunned to hear about him. He was so young and conscientious about his health and well-being.”

His parents said his diabetes could drive them crazy with concern, for good reason. But for now they are focused on the many Facebook tributes to him and memories of a concert he held at the Woodlands Foundation on the border of Marshall and Bradford Woods for special-needs children, including one who used synthesized voice technology to sing a song she’d written.

“Afterward,” his mother said, “all the kids were hugging him.”

In addition to his parents, Mr. Anderson is survived by a brother, Terrence Anderson of Dallas, and a sister, Tara Anderson Merz of Brooklyn.

Visitation is from 1 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Devlin Funeral Home, 806 Perry Highway, Ross, with Mass at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. John Neumann Church, 2230 Rochester Road. The family recommends contributions to JDRF, formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, at 26 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10004, or online at jdf.org, and the Woodlands Foundation at 134 Shenot Road, Wexford, PA 15090.