Walter Goldenrath

Captain Walter L. Goldenrath (MSC) USN

Long time resident

of Palo Alto, California

Age 92, died on the evening of October 28, 2010. His wife, Sylvia, preceded him in death in 2003. He is survived by many caring friends and relatives.

Captain Goldenrath graduated from the University of California Berkeley, and served in the Pacific and Southern Atlantic theatres during World War II. After the war, he returned to UC Berkeley to complete a graduate degree, and later an additional graduate degree from the University of Southern California. He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War and assigned to the US Naval Medical Institute as an instructor in high altitude Physiology, where he trained flight surgeons and conducted research on G-protection and explosive decompression. Following his service in the Korean War he returned to UC Berkeley to continue his work on hypertension, and to serve as a lecturer/instructor of Physiology. He taught basic Physiology at the School of Medicine and the School of Pharmacy, and also taught anatomy of the head and neck in the Dental School.

In 1955 he returned to active duty as Officer in Charge of the Navy's research program to develop a high altitude protective pressure suit. The first two NASA astronauts, Alan Shepard and John Glenn, later wore this suit in Project Mercury. In 1970 Captain Goldenrath was appointed Director of the Aero Medical Research Division at the Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, Pennsylvania.

Captain Goldenrath's final military assignment was to the NASA-Ames Research Center as a Special Assistant to the Director of Life Sciences and as Assistant Division Chief of the Ames Biomedical Research Division. Captain Goldenrath retired from the US Navy in 1975 and was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Award from the Surgeon General of the Navy. Following his retirement, Captain Goldenrath continued as a consultant to NASA, helping to transfer NASA biomedical technology to the civilian medical community.

Captain Goldenrath was a Fellow and Vice President of the Aerospace Medical Association, and a Life Member of the Safety And Flight Equipment Association. In 2004 he was inducted into the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Hall of Fame, where his name is inscribed on the Wall of Honor.

A cryptside service will be held on Friday, November 26 at 1:00 pm at Salem Memorial Park, in Colma, CA.