SUSAN KROGH/ ANDERSON OF COUNCIL BLUFFS
Susan K. Andersen
September 19, 1943 – January 27, 2026
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Susan K. Andersen Obituary
Susan K. Andersen nee Krogh died Tuesday, January 27, 2026 in Council Bluffs, Iowa from natural causes. Born September 19, 1943 in Fort Riley, Kansas, Andersen is survived by her son Geoff Ryder, sister Jean Krogh, niece Leigh Ann Gobber and husband Tim, nephew Robert Clauff and wife Denelle, their children, and many loving cousins. Her beloved cousins Carol Montemore, Joan Harrison, Lowell Eyer, and Terry Maxwell were great friends to her in her later years. She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister Karen Roberts.
Susan grew up in Omaha, and discovered a love of reading as a child. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, magna cum laude, and on a scholarship earned a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Later in her career she returned to UIUC and completed her Ph.D.
Susan became active in the Transcendental Meditation movement in the 1970s and 1980s, and joined the English Department at Maharishi International University (MIU). She became a professor there, and for part of her career served as department chair. She taught a broad variety of literature and creative writing courses. Her main research interests included Victorian literature and the American transcendentalists of the nineteenth century, world literature, environmental justice, and the application of the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) to the study of literature. She authored or co-authored over 20 books, and spoke at the Modern Language Association conference.
With many cherished collaborators in Fairfield, she organized a film festival for several years, and she ran a popular local radio show that combined interviews with her analysis of fiction and nonfiction topics. Notable episodes covered Whitman, Emerson, Thoreau, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and other writings, and masterpieces of world literature.
In retirement she focused on creative writing, and she found great comfort in her spiritual pursuits. She lived her life as a testament to her values, finding strength in her convictions and a community that shared her spiritual vision.
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Cutler-O’Neill-Meyer-Woodring
Funeral Home & Crematory
Willow Avenue
Phone: (712) 322-7779
Fax: (712) 322-7729
545 Willow Avenue, Council Bluffs, IA 51503
Maher Funeral Home
7th Street
Phone: (712) 328-1144
121 S 7th St,
Council Bluffs, IA 51501
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