‘There was a glow about him’

Jan Paul Anderson, one of the top cinematographers in the news business, died recently of a heart attack. He was 63.

Anderson was known in the business for his unequaled sense of adventure. Friends and co-workers described him as the Indiana Jones of television news.

From 1974 to 1978, Anderson was the principal cameraman for the National Geographic Society. He won four Emmy Awards for children’s programs while working for NBC in the 1980s. In the late 1990s, he was the manager of news operations for CBS in Hawaii. When he worked for ABC in Los Angeles, he was a cameraman for “20/20,” “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight” and “Nightline.” He owned and operated video production companies in Germany, Hawaii and Los Angeles.

Anderson called Temecula his home and always kept an address in Newport Beach.

Anderson narrowly missed getting an assignment filming at Jim Jones’ People’s Temple in Guyana in 1978. The journalist who went in his stead was shot by cult members the day before the mass suicide in which 912 members of the cult died.

“It really had a big effect on his [Anderson’s] life ? that bullet was meant for him,” said friend Cynthia Christopher of San Marin, Calif.

The episode began when Anderson was filming the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.

ABC called and told him to fly to Guyana, but he missed the flight.

The cameraman sent in his place was killed scrambling to get on an airplane and escape after members of the cult attacked.

“That cameraman died with a camera in his hand. He never stopped filming,” Christopher said.

Anderson filmed top-secret subjects for NATO, and his interest in law enforcement in his later years led him to develop technology for police departments. He created the first video production department for the Newport Beach Police, and he filmed crime scenes to document evidence.

“Jan was in the forefront of the concept of video crime scene investigation,” said longtime friend Stephen Killebrew.

At a crime scene, he went in before investigators and made a sweep across the rooms with his camera, Newport Beach Police Lt. Tom Gazsi of said. He was responsible for uncovering key pieces of evidence in some cases.

Anderson was as passionate about his personal life as his professional.

Carolyn, his wife of 35 years, died in September.

“The couple was utterly inseparable ? anyone who knew him would say he died of a broken heart,” Christopher said, adding that Carolyn traveled all over the world with him on assignments.

“They were kindred spirits ? it was a beautiful love story,” Killebrew said.

In the last six or seven years, he took time off from business to care for Carolyn, who had cancer.

“He was the warmest, most giving person I have ever known in my life,” Killebrew said. “There was a glow about him. He took life to its fullest and was a free spirit.”