David D. Anderson was a Michigan State University faculty member from 1956 until his retirement in 1994. Anderson was born in Lorain, Ohio. He received a B.S. (1951) and a M.A. (1952) from Bowling Green State University. His Ph. D. in American Literature (1960) was earned at Michigan State University. After teaching in the United States Army, he taught at the General Motors Institute (Kettering Institute), and then joined the MSU English Department faculty in 1956. A year later he transferred to MSU's newly formed Department of American Thought and Language (ATL). Anderson also served as the Assistant Dean for Lifelong and Continuing Education in the University College. He retired from the ATL Department in 1994 with the rank of distinguished professor emeritus. In 1963-1964, he was a Fulbright Lecturer in American Literature at the University of Karachi, Pakistan. Throughout his career he traveled and lectured in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Anderson's primary scholarship was about Ohio and Midwestern literature. He was a recognized authority on the author Sherwood Anderson (no relation). Anderson was a founder of the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature and was an active member of the Modern American Literature of the Modern Language Association. He published 37 books and countless articles and other creative works.

David D. Anderson died December 3, 2011.