Originally from New York, Walter was inspired by a childhood playing in Central Park and on urban farms to take Garden Science in high school. From there, he went on to obtain a BSc. from Syracuse University and an MLA from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. He then spent a year studying the design of Italian hill towns at the American Academy in Rome on the Weidenman Fellowship. He returned to North America to work on the design and planning of Expo ’67, launching his professional career in Canada.
Since then, Walter has participated in the development of landscape projects in over 25 countries. Major works include planning and design studies for Parliament Hill in Ottawa, a master plan for the Wascana Legislative grounds in Regina, master planning and implementation for Bronte Creek Provincial Park and Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto, waterfront development master plans for Monaco and Abu Dhabi, Central Park in Kuwait, the Oukaimeden ski resort complex in Morocco and the planning and design of the Dodoma, Tanzania capital city plan and the site planning and landscape architecture for the Canadian Embassy in Beijing and master plans and implementation for the University of Guelph and King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Walter has also had the privilege of educating generations of landscape architects, teaching at Harvard, LSU, RISD, Virginia, Penn State, Utah, UBC, Toronto, and the University of Guelph where he was the Director of the School of Landscape Architecture for many years.
