Anne E. Lindeman is best known for her legislative service, her work to establish Arizona State University West campus, and her unfailing advocacy for the elderly. Born in East Orange, New Jersey on September 10, 1932, she moved to Arizona in 1961 with her three young sons after her husband died in a plane crash. She had graduated as a registered nurse from Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in South Bend, Indiana, and had hoped to find a nursing job in Phoenix, but there was a surplus in the market at that time. Instead, she received training as a secretary and went to work for several state legislators. She became secretary to the Senate Education Committee from 1966 to 1972, when she successfully ran as a Republican candidate for the House.

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Anne served as a state Representative from 1972-1975 and a state Senator from 1975 -1986. Her main interests in the legislature were education, health, and aging. Lindeman was the first woman to hold the post of Majority Whip in the Senate from 1983-1986. She chaired the Senate Education Committee for six years and the Health, Welfare and Education Committee for two years.

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She helped form the Westside Citizens Committee for Higher Education, which was striving to establish higher education in Maricopa County’s West Valley. Nearly 100 business, community and government leaders joined the grassroots movement, including then-State Senators Sandra Day O’Connor and Fred Koory. The committee proposed creating an upper-division branch of Arizona State University offering junior- and senior-level courses. Lindeman introduced a bill creating a committee to study the need for the formation of a branch campus of ASU. In 1982, Lindeman located the 300 acres of state land that became the permanent site for ASU West. She drafted the 1984 legislation creating ASU West and the innovative lease-purchase agreement that freed up $48,000,000 for additional campus construction in 1988. She helped establish a certificate program in gerontology at ASU West.

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She received the National Republican Legislator of the Year award in 1982 from the National Republicans Legislators Association. During this same time she also chaired the Education Committee for the National Conference of State Legislators and represented Arizona on President Regan’s Advisory Committee on Federalism. President Reagan appointed her to the Intergovernmental Advisory Council on Education in 1985 and 1986. She was the first recipient of the ASU West Visionaries Award.

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In 1991 Governor Fife Symington appointed her the Executive Director of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging, where she served until 2001 when ill health forced her to resign. While in the position of Executive, she advocated passionately for issues that enhanced the quality of life for seniors and in 1997 led a commission to improve end-of-life care. Her accomplishments regarding aging have impacted the lives of older people and their families throughout Arizona.

 

Anne Lindeman died of heart disease on June 5, 2001 at the age of 68.