Walter Dewey Barndt, Jr. passed away peacefully on April 18, 2019, in the company of his daughters, in his home at The Woodlands in Lebanon, NH.
Born in Waukegan, IL on June 3, 1928, Walter was the son of Walter Dewey Barndt and Sonya (Bush) Barndt.
He grew up in Waukegan, where he graduated from Waukegan HS as a National Honor student. Walter went on to earn a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Bradley University in 1950.
After college, Walter enlisted in the Navy as a 3rd Class Petty Officer surveyor. In 1951, he graduated from Officer Training School in Newport, RI as a commissioned Ensign in the Civil Engineer Corps., and was attached to the mobile construction battalion, the Seabees. Over the years, his service details would take him to various places throughout the US, as well as England, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba and Venezuela.
In 1952, he married Joan Carolyn Foster, whom he'd met on a flight out of Chicago. They were married for 67 full, adventurous years, during which their love of traveling took them to many corners of the world..
Concurrent with his Naval service, in 1954, Walter started at the Harvard Business School, becoming the Assistant for 4 years.
In 1963, he went back on active duty in the Navy, he and his family were sent to London for 3 years as he worked to oversee various public works projects in Europe. While in England, the family took many trips throughout England, Scotland and much of Europe, traveling in their trusty 1962 Ford Falcon station wagon to visit old churches, historic sites and ruins, tailgate picnicking along their way.
Upon the family's return to the US, Walter was assigned as Assistant Director of Public Works in Newport, RI for a year.
While still in the Naval Reserves, Walter joined the International Marketing Institute (IMI), which sent him overseas on teaching and consulting assignments for a number of years. He, and often Joan too, traveled to Australia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Venezuela and S. Africa. They were both especially enamored of Australia and for a time considered possibly moving there.
Walter retired from the Navy as a Commander in the Civil Engineer Corps. in 1970.
He went on to work for Dartmouth College's Capital Campaign for a few years, and then he and Joan moved to New Haven, CT., where he was made an Associate Fellow at Jonathan Edwards College at Yale, as well as being a member of the vestry of Trinity on the Green, and on the board of directors of the New Haven Lawn Club. Walter joined the Rochester Polytechnic Institute School of Management faculty on their Hartford, CT campus, where he taught graduate courses in marketing and middle management. He retired as a full professor in 2005.
During his time in CT, Walter became a member and officer of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals group (SCIP), during which time he published a book “User Directed Competitive Intelligence” and several journal articles dealing with intelligence issues.
Upon retiring to Grantham, NH in 1993, Walter began teaching several courses through Dartmouth's continuing education program, ILEAD (later OSHER), as well as teaching several courses at Beacon Hill Seminars in Boston. In recent years, he'd taught classes on, among other things, 'Blindspots', Sherlock Holmes, and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. He was also a volunteer at the Grantham Library for several years, then later, when he moved to Lebanon, a volunteer at Alice Peck Day Hospital.
Walter loved to describe how he'd come to all his various jobs and occupations over the years – never by particular intention, and never because he was looking for a job, but always through random, auspicious circumstances that would have him saying “Why not?!” and away he went on his next work adventure!
Walter was an accomplished athlete, and avid road racer, completing 5 Boston Marathons and hundreds of shorter races. He loved playing tennis and racquetball, hiking, canoeing, and was making regular visits to the gym up until his very last weeks. He was a sports fan and and especially loved following all the NCAA tournaments as well as any Dartmouth college athletics. Though granted, his interest in attending Dartmouth games was equally an excuse to get a warm hot dog.
He was also an accomplished Chess and Bridge player, devoted to his Saturday afternoon Bridge games at The Woodlands.
Although a private, reserved man, Walter had a genuine curiosity about his friends and their endeavors, and loved to engage in lengthy, stimulating conversations. He had been a long-time, enthusiastic member of the Round Table group that met monthly to lunch and discuss current affairs.
Walter had a fondness for olives. An apparently genetic trait that has been successfully passed on.
Walter is survived by his daughters Beth Barndt and husband, Vincent Mulac, and Mary-Dana Bentley and husband, Bob; grandson Anthony Simanskas and his fiancee, Meg Spellman, great-grand daughter, Alina Rose, and Meg's daughter, Shayla; granddaughter Kara Simanskas and her fiancee David Nihan; his nieces Amy Bartell and Leslie Peterson, and nephew Douglas McPhail; and his beloved little cat, Cleo. He is predeceased by his wife, Joan.
The family wishes to express enormous gratitude to Dr. Remillard and his Nephrology team; Dr, McNeely; Bayada Hospice staff; Lebanon Fire and Rescue; and all the wonderful residents and staff at The Woodlands for their great care, love and kindness during these last years and days of Walter's wonderful life.
A memorial celebration of Walter's life will be held sometime in the spring or summer, in Nelson, NH.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the National Kidney Foundation.
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