Karl Ricks Anderson

I have lived in the shadows of the Kirtland Temple and walked the sacred lands of Ohio for 35 years. Come and let me introduce you to ground made sacred by visions and appearances of angels and the Deity. You will intensely feel the Spirit and gain scriptural insights not possible anywhere else except the Holy Land.

Karl Ricks Anderson has taught seminary and institute with the Church Educational System for 23 years. He is presently serving as Coordinator and Institute Director for Northern Ohio. He received both a Bachelor's Degree and Master's Degree in Business from the University of Utah. A businessman, he worked in the Borg-Warner Corporation for six years and at Systemation, Inc., for 18 years—where he held various management positions, including Senior Vice president and Director. He is a noted authority on Kirtland and has played a primary role in its restoration.

Utilizing his expertise on the Kirtland area, Brother Anderson has authored several articles that have appeared in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism and the Historical Atlas of Mormonism. He also wrote the book Joseph Smith’s Kirtland: Eyewitness Accounts and co-authored Church Sites in Ohio, which is a guide book to 78 sites.

Brother Anderson has spent much of his time giving church and community service. He served as a full-time missionary in the Swiss-Austrian Mission from 1957 to 1960. He has been on the Board of Directors for the Greater Cleveland Council of the Boy Scouts of America for 29 years. He has held a variety of positions, including District Chairman, Vice President, and Council Commissioner. He has also been the President of the Cleveland Chapter of the Association for Systems Management. He is serving as an officer and board member of the Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Foundation. He has been heavily involved in restoring the Kirtland historic sites, as well as the Smith Family Cemetery in Nauvoo, where Joseph, Emma, Hyrum, and more than twenty other Smith family members are buried. He has held various teaching and leadership positions in his stake, including President of the Cleveland Stake, Regional Representative, and Area Family History Advisor to the North America North East Area. He is currently serving as Patriarch in the Kirtland Ohio Stake.

Originally a native of Ogden, Utah, Brother Anderson has lived for 35 years in the Kirtland area. He is married to Joyce Hirschi, and they are the parents of seven children and the proud grandparents of twenty grandchildren.

Tours Guided by Karl Ricks Anderson