Harlan John Anderson, 85, a longtime Kennewick resident, passed away on Monday June 13 at Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco. He was among those many veterans who came west to work at the Hanford Site in the Cold War years and helped develop advanced nuclear fuels and materials technologies here. Harlan was born March 15, 1926, to John E. and Lillis Lee Anderson in Pierre, S.D. In the fall of 1944, he entered the U.S. Army Signal Corps and earned military citations for service in the Philippines as well as the occupation of Japan. As a technical sergeant stationed in Japan, he saw the atomic bomb devastation, and decided on his lifelong career in chemistry to pursue ways to harness atomic energy for beneficial uses. After leaving the service in 1946, he attended the University of South Dakota, receiving a bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics in June 1951. At that time, he was welcomed to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Hanford Analytical Laboratories for nuclear research and development work. He and his wife Gwen moved to the Tri-Cities where they raised two children. For more than 35 years, Harlan was a program manager in various fuels and materials analytical work for the major contractors General Electric, Battelle Northwest and Westinghouse Hanford. He retired in 1988 as a principal engineer, and served thereafter as a technical consultant. Career achievements included serving as official U.S. delegate to international conferences on nuclear fuel analytical needs in the 1960s & '70s, and he was named a Fellow of the American Society of Testing and Materials ASTM. In 1976 he earned the ASTM's Award of Merit and in 1980 was honored as the namesake of the annual ASTM Harlan J. Anderson Award honoring superior performance in technical fields. In 1985 he received the University of South Dakota's Alumni Achievement Award and its Man of the Year, and he kept in touch with the university's Chemistry Department head. Just last fall, he made a special gift to the university in honor of Dr. Charles Estee, now retired, to fund the purchase of books and on-line journals benefiting chemistry students of the future. Beginning in 1968 here in the Tri-Cities, Harlan served as founding chairman and Kennewick representative on the Board of Trustees of the Benton County Mosquito Control District. In 2004 when the district dedicated its modern headquarters building in West Richland, he was honored at the ribbon cutting, His name appears on the building's Harlan J. Anderson Board Room. In 2008 as he finally retired from the Board, it marked the 40th year of his volunteer service "fighting mosquitoes". Other longtime interests included golf at the Tri-City Country Club, support of community development projects such as the Mid-Columbia Library, and 20 years of service as treasurer of the Hanford Retirees Association. Following a divorce, he used "applied chemistry" to oversee swimming pool operations at the Palisades Condominiums in Kennewick after marrying Marilyn Druby and moving there in 1995. Harlan is survived by his loving wife Marilyn, son Mark of Kennewick, daughter Barbara of Webster, TX, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Also surviving him is his sister Shirley of Pierre, SD. A funeral service for Harlan Anderson will be held at Mueller's Tri-Cities Funeral Home at 14th and Union Street in Kennewick on Thursday, June 23, at 1 p.m. Memorials may be made to organizations of special interest to Harlan such as: Hanford Retirees Association scholarship fund, P.O. Box 768, Richland WA 99352; or The Chaplaincy/Hospice, 2108 W Entiat Ave., Kennewick WA 99336 or The University of South Dakota Foundation, P.O. Box 5555, Vermillion SD 57069.