Matthew Anacker spent his life planting trees, so now his family will plant one for him.

Anacker owned and operated A&A Tree Experts, the Baltimore County business that has for decades helped residents prune and fertilize growing trees and take down dangerous ones. More than that, he was a founding member of the Maryland Arborist Association, which represents workers in the industry and maintains safety standards.

So it is only fitting that his family now plans to use a tree to honor the late patriarch. It’ll grow in the yard of the Maryland Line United Methodist Church, where Anacker spent almost every Sunday, and they’ll bury his ashes underneath it.

Anacker, a reliable family man who kept a full schedule but always made time for loved ones, died March 14 after going into cardiac arrest. He was 79.

“He was always busy doing something, having a plan for stuff,” said his son, John Anacker. “He always seemed like he had some kind of idea what he needed to do and where he needed to be.”

Matt Anacker was born in Riverdale on June 1, 1945. He and three siblings — two sisters and a brother — grew up in Pikesville in a house next door to the building where his father decided to base A&A, which launched in 1948. He was a Marylander through and through, and the only reason he briefly left Baltimore County was for college.

As a boy, Anacker helped his father with the tree business and ran track at school (even though he’d later tell his sons his horrific memories of running a mile in gym class). He collected coins and stamps. He attended what was then known as Milford Mill High School before heading off to the University of Massachusetts and the University of Georgia, where he studied arboriculture and landscape architecture.

He returned to Maryland and started working for the Rouse Company in Columbia. Shortly after, he came back to his father’s company full time, and he became a Maryland licensed tree expert in 1970.

Anacker got married the next year, and both of his sons, Richard and John, were born as the decade turned. The boys have few memories of their parents together because they divorced when the boys were still quite young. They split their time between their parents, and Anacker always made sure to take them to Boy Scouts on Wednesdays and soccer games over the weekend.

Every Sunday, the boys would head up to their grandparents’ farm. Anacker worked seven days a week, so they’d spend the day playing outside of their grandparents’ cabin, climbing trees and using the swings their grandfather built.

They always had Sunday dinner together, followed by board games, and more playtime and laughter after their father got home from work, Richard Anacker said.

When his sons were in middle school, Matt Anacker met Sharon Friedman, a local realtor who also worked at the community pool. The couple met there, and they quickly became inseparable. Friedman had three children of her own, all older than Richard and John, who would come by and visit as the boys grew older.

Stacey Friedman, one of their stepsisters, said Anacker always “treated me as if I was his own daughter.” The couple were never married, but they might as well have been, John Anacker said. The boys call Sharon Friedman their stepmom.

Though family was important to Anacker, work took up the majority of his life. He was passionate about tree care and wanted to help other arborists succeed and start their own businesses. He served many of the same clients for years and built a reputation as a knowledgeable and level-headed arborist.

Keith Cotter, the owner of Chesapeake Tree who worked for Anacker in the late ‘80s, said Anacker was more than just a boss — he was an educator. He’d put in late hours to teach his employees additional terminology or skills.

Anacker was generous with advice when Cotter started his own business, he said. In the early years of his company, Anacker would also help him find work by referring him to clients who needed tree services but wanted a cheaper price. It was a full-circle moment for Cotter, who’d initially met Anacker as a boy because the arborist worked on his mother’s trees.

Anacker “is probably one of the most genuine men” in the industry, Cotter said. “If he didn’t know you, he didn’t care, he would still talk to you. And I can just tell you that he was always there for us.”

It helped that Anacker had a razor-sharp memory, his sons said. He could tell you how to navigate almost every street in Baltimore without a GPS, and he could recall even the tiniest details of jobs he’d completed 20 or 30 years prior. Richard Anacker, who later joined the family business, said his father would often tell stories of taking down trees that got struck by lightning or clearing out space for the light rail.

“If there was eight days in the week, we’d be working eight days a week,” Richard Anacker said.

Through his role in the Maryland Arborist Association, Anacker helped issue guidance on safely handling trees in dangerous situations. He also participated in annual Arbor Day volunteer work, where he and other arborists would donate their time and skills to help beautify their community.

As he grew older, Anacker enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren, who called him “Poppy Matt.” He’d make sure to attend their school plays and sporting events, and he always gave them $2 bills and $1 coins — a particularly fun tradition for the kids because they’re so rare nowadays, John Anacker said.

He would keep in touch with other family and friends through his famous email list, which he used to organize events, pass along fun memories and just say hi.

Matt Anacker also loved going out to eat, especially at Jilly’s in Pikesville. He knew many of the waitstaff by name. After he died, his family paid a visit to his favorite spot, and several employees approached the table to offer their condolences.

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