Henry Walter

Henry Walter of Wellesley Hills and Needham died peacefully of natural causes in the Skilled Nursing Facility at North Hill on August 18th. Born in Vienna, Austria in 1916 Henry escaped to the United States in 1939 after the German invasion of Austria. Throughout his life Henry carried a great love for his adopted country serving with distinction in the U.S. Army during WWII. He landed on Omaha Beach in the D-Day invasion, was the first American officer to enter Czechoslovakia when it was liberated from the Nazis and served in military government as a Lt. Colonel in Stuttgart after the war. While in Stuttgart, Henry met and married the love of his life, Ruth Stiles of Scarsdale, New York, who was stationed there working for the State Department.

Following his return from Germany in 1949, Henry earned a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard, and then began life-long career in investment analysis and counseling, working for 26 years at John P. Chase Inc. in Boston where he was a vice-president. After the dissolution of John P. Chase in 1979, Henry continued has career at Gardner, Preston, Moss and later at Congress Asset Management. For many years he also taught economics at Northeastern University’s School of Business. Henry remained very active in the investment world until his early eighties.

Henry and Ruth were longtime residents of Wellesley, living there from 1953 until 1991 when they moved to North Hill in Needham where Ruth died in 2002. Henry was an active member of the Unitarian Church of Wellesley Hills and many members of this community as well as the North Hill and Wellesley communities were among his close friends.

Henry is survived by his daughter Jenni and her husband Matthew King of Newton, his son Chris and his wife Arti Pandi of Cambridge, his daughter Ellen and her husband Ron Sneider of La Quinta, California, his son Matthew and his wife Patricia Capone of Watertown and six grandchildren. A memorial service to celebrate Henry’s life will be held at the Unitarian Church of Wellesley Hills, 309 Washington St., Wellesley Hills on September 11th at 11 AM. Donations in Henry's memory may be made to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, 34 Washington St., Suite 300, Wellesley Hills, 02481 or to Barakatworld.org.

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