Herbert T. Anderson was educated at Notre Dame University and Fordham University Law School (1933). After admission to the bar in 1934, he established a law practice in Auburn. He served as city clerk (1936-1940) and in 1940 he was the Democratic candidate for New York State Senate. He subsequently enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and received an officer's commission. After completing military service during World War II, he returned to the practice of law in Auburn. From 1944 to 1952, he was the city attorney. In 1947, he and Edward T. Boyle formed the Boyle & Anderson firm. Anderson was elected mayor of Auburn for one four-year term (1956-60), although, he said, "it seemed like eight." The city accomplished numerous improvements during his mayoral administration. North Street was widened, a firehouse was erected, and property on North Division Street was acquired for the city landfill. It was Anderson who suggested that Mount Carmel High School (later Carmel Middle School and William H. Seward Elementary School) be constructed on property on Metcalf Drive, rather than on Swift Street. Anderson was married to Winifred Cecelia Mitchell; the couple had two daughters, Carol M. Engle of Erie, Pennsylvania, and Lynn Elizabeth Gibson of Linwood, New Jersey. Mayor Anderson died in Erie on 28 April 2005, at the age of ninety-six, and was interred in St. Joseph's Cemetery.
