Lawyer, musician, outdoor enthusiast, loving wife, mother, and grandmother Anne Taylor Wadsack, 81, passed away March 23, 2026, in the company of her family, due to complications of advanced Alzheimer’s disease.

Anne was born December 13, 1944 to Fannie Turnbull Taylor and Robert Taylor in New York City, where Robert was deployed during World War II.

Anne and her older sister Kathy grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, where their mother directed the Wisconsin Union Theater, and their father was a journalism professor and vice president of the University of Wisconsin.

In her youth, Anne spent a lot of time camping with her family, and she enjoyed skating and skiing. She once rode a bicycle off of the Shorewood Hills ski jump.

Anne received an A.B. degree from Connecticut College (for Women, at the time) in three years, accelerating her education via summer school courses at UW-Madison, where she later went to law school. In Connecticut, she re-connected with Peter Wadsack, whom she had originally met in a high school Russian class in Madison. Anne and Peter fell quickly, deeply and permanently in love. They were married in 1968, after serving together in the United States Peace Corps in Venezuela and moving back to Madison to start their careers. They had twins, son Sasha and daughter Karin, in 1973, and daughter Katie in 1979.

Anne was an accomplished classical pianist her entire life, minored in music in college, and worked at the Yale music school after graduation, continuing lessons and performances in adulthood. In Madison, she performed with groups including the Euterpe Music Club and Carnaval, and in music community events like the “Bach Around the Clock” music marathon. She chaired the board of directors for the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society. She adored the piano, playing a range of composers and genres, and referred to the Bechstein grand piano in the living room as the Jaguar sportscar she never bought.

Professionally, Anne was a trailblazer. She was one of the first female lawyers in Wisconsin. In law school, she refused to sit in the back of the classroom when a professor suggested she should make room for the more ‘serious’ (male) students up front. She became a prominent family lawyer, establishing her own firm, and ultimately leading the family law group at Dewitt LLP through the end of her career. She was recognized by the UW for her commitment in being a practitioner who shared her expertise with students; she devoted time as a visiting lecturer in the classroom, an editor for the Law Review and both a writer and grader of Wisconsin State Bar exam questions. She was a strong mentor for other lawyers. In addition to teaching junior colleagues in her own firms, she volunteered as a mentor with the State Bar, where she was assigned young lawyers whose firms lacked senior attorneys with her deep expertise in complex topics. While always a tough litigator, she was also an early leader in mediation, enabling families to move constructively through difficult life changes. She was named as a distinguished Fellow of the Wisconsin Law Foundation and she was selected repeatedly as one of the Best Lawyers in America.

Anne delighted in the outdoors. She spent weeks at a time on family trips fishing on the Flambeau River, canoe-camping in the Quetico, and downhill skiing in the Upper Peninsula, the Rockies and the Alps. She appreciated the simple wonder of spring flowers blooming during walks in the Arboretum or on Picnic Point. She observed the call of phoebes to mark the end of winter, and she was charmed by fireflies lighting up during summer evening walks around the neighborhood. She embraced the opportunity to experience other cultures, traveling the world from the Amazon basin to the Great Wall of China.

In adulthood, Anne found a passion for horses. She competed in both horse riding and driving competitions, raised beautiful American Saddlebreds, and thoroughly enjoyed the learning process, discipline, and new intellectual and cultural territory that she was able to explore through the Midwestern equestrian community.

Anne is survived by her husband, Peter; children Sasha (wife Laura Zingg-Wadsack, son Alexander), Karin (husband John Dailey) and Katie (Crowley, daughters Madison and Hana); sister Kathy (Isaacs); and step-mother Judy (Amerell) Taylor.

A memorial service will be held at Garner park in Madison, WI, at 5pm on June 28th, 2026.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Anne's name may be made to Agrace Hospice.

Cress Funeral & Cremation Services

3610 Speedway Rd Madison

608-238-3434