Anderson photographed in Central Park, New York by Carl Van Vechten, 1939. Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 - March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. In November 1912 he suffered a mental breakdown and disappeared for four days. He was found in a drugstore in Cleveland, having walked almost thirty miles. Soon after, he left his position as president of the Anderson Manufacturing Co. in Elyria, Ohio, and left his wife and family to pursue the writer's life of creativity. Anderson died at the age of 64 while on a cruise to South America. An autopsy revealed he had accidentally swallowed a toothpick from either a martini olive or while eating hors d'oeuvres.