Theodore "Ted" Anderst

Theodore Jacob Anderst (Ted), our beloved father, brother, and grandfather, departed our world peacefully for heaven at the age of 79 on November 19, 2025. Ted was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and Eileen (Haas) Anderst and by his partner of many recent years, Betty Jo Tweed. Ted is survived by his two daughters, Antoinette (Toni) Phillips (John) and Leah Anderst (Robert), and three grandchildren, Beatrice, Charles, and Prudence Phillips. In addition to his immediate family, he is survived by his siblings, Magdalene (Sis) Matzke (Rod), Thomas Anderst (Cindy), Richard Anderst, and Paul Anderst (Carol), and by many extended family members, nieces, nephews and cousins and friends in North Dakota and beyond.

Ted was born on September 14, 1946, in Mandan, North Dakota, the oldest of five children. He graduated from Mandan High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from North Dakota State University in Fargo. Ted enlisted in the military, and he served our country in Korea. He married Deborah Knoll, and their daughters, Toni and Leah, were both born in North Dakota before the family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1981. Ted had a very successful career in computers and financial consulting. He worked for Unisys and for Oracle, where he developed strong expertise, and he later became a partner at Deloitte Consulting, specializing in Oracle products and services for banking and credit companies. He led teams working with American Express and other important global companies, and his work took him to many locations around the world including India and China. He was a particularly strong supporter of the women working on his teams, and he sought to advocate for and promote women to leadership positions regularly. His colleagues always appreciated his trust in them, his guidance, and his approachable manner.

After retiring from Deloitte, Ted spent much of his time with Betty in her Long Island home or her beach house in Sag Harbor, at his home in Norwalk, Connecticut, where he lived with Toni and her family, and sometimes in Mandan, where he purchased and renovated a log cabin in the neighborhood where he and his siblings grew up. He kept himself busy and satisfied during these years with chores and projects, with art collecting and baking, with exercise and long walks around his neighborhood, and he enjoyed spending time with Toni, John, and his grandkids. In his later years, Ted was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but that didn’t slow him down. He had been a runner throughout his life, completing marathons in New York City and Disney World along with yearly Turkey Trots and New Year’s Eve Midnight races in Central Park. He maintained a rigorous daily exercise routine up until his final months, and he continued to perfect one of his long-term baking projects: fiber brownies. He loved the daily meals Toni or one of his grandkids would prepare for him, especially Charlie’s spaghetti bolognese.

Ted’s loss here in this world will be felt so keenly by many, by his immediate family most of all, his children and grandchildren for whom his presence, his generosity and his kindness was immense. We hope to follow in his generous footsteps and in the way he led his life.

Funeral services for Ted will be held at Christ the King Catholic Church in Mandan, ND on Friday December 19, 2025 at 10:30am, and he will be buried at the North Dakota Veteran’s Cemetery in Mandan in 12:00pm.

Ted’s family would like to express their heartfelt thanks to the staff at Regional Hospice Center in Danbury, Connecticut who cared for him so warmly and expertly. The comfort and peace they provided him and the family was invaluable.