Memorial Set for Executive A. G. Anderson : Obituary: The longtime Orange County resident and mortgage industry leader died of cancer at 52. A celebration of his life will be held at noon today.

A memorial celebration of the life of prominent mortgage lending industry executive A. Gary Anderson, a longtime Orange County resident, will be held at noon today at the headquarters of Directors Mortgage Loan Corp. in Riverside.

Anderson died of cancer at his Laguna Beach home Saturday. He was 52.

A 24-year veteran of the mortgage banking and real estate industries, he purchased Directors Mortgage in 1976 when it had four branch offices and 105 employees.

The company since has grown to more than 90 offices and 1,800 employees and in 1991 was the nation’s 15th-largest residential lender with $3.85 billion in loans. Directors Mortgage has two offices and 30 employees in Orange County.

Anderson, who was Directors’ chairman and chief executive officer, recently had been honored as the Inland Empire’s 1992 entrepreneur of the year.

He was chairman of the Children’s Fund of San Bernardino County, a charitable organization he founded, and was a founding member of the Inland Empire Economic Council.

Anderson was also board chairman and a major shareholder of Allmark Inc., a development and property management firm in Rancho Cucamonga.

He sat on the advisory board of the Federal National Mortgage Assn. and the board of governors of the Mortgage Bankers Assn. of America and was president of the Inland Empire Mortgage Bankers Assn. in 1973 and of the California Mortgage Bankers Assn. in 1989.

Ray Crebs, president and chief operating officer of Directors Mortgage, will become chief executive officer as well. He said the position of chairman will be left vacant.

Few other management changes are expected, he said. “Gary had stepped back the last two years to spend less time working and to give others on the management team opportunity,” he said.

Crebs said that all Directors Mortgage offices will close at noon today for the tribute to Anderson.

Anderson is survived by his wife, Diane, of Laguna Beach; his son, Erik, of Riverside; his daughter, Erin, of Costa Mesa; step-daughters Brandy Radovich of Laguna Beach and Heather Gaughan of Newport Beach; three grandchildren; his parents, Arnold and Irma Anderson, of Rancho Cucamonga; and two sisters, Jean Fleschner of Fortuna and Mary Anne Schiller of Oceanside.