In Memoriam: Marion Walter, 1928-2021

Marion Walter, the founder of the department of mathematics at what is now Simmons University in Boston and a long-time faculty member at the University of Oregon, died on May 9 at a retirement community in Eugene, Oregon, She was 92 years old.

Dr. Walter was born in Berlin Germany. In 1938, she was one of 10,000 Jewish children evacuated from Germany and surrounding countries to the United Kingdom before the start of World War II. She attended college in England for two years before leaving for the United States in 1948.

Dr. Walter earned a bachelor’s degree at Hunter College of the City University of New York and a master’s degree in mathematics at New York Univerity.

In 1956, Walter took a one-year appointment at Simmons College in Boston. At that time, the college did not offer a major in mathematics, but at the end of the year she was asked to create one. She accepted the challenge but stepped down as department chair after four years and remained at Simmons teaching until 1965 when she left to concentrate on her doctorate at Harvard Graduate School of Education. She received her doctorate in 1967. She was then appointed to the faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

After brief teaching stints at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, nd the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York System, Dr. Walter joined the faculty of the mathematics faculty at the University of Oregon. She was named professor emerita in 1993.