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WALKER LEE CISLER
1 897-1 994
BY EIARVEY A. WAGNER
WALKER LEE CISLER former chairman of the board en c! chief
executive officer of Detroit Edison, died on October 18, 1994,
at his home in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. He was ninety-
seven years old.
Born October 8, 1897, in Marietta, Ohio, Walker grew up in
Graclyville, Pennsylvania. After serving in World War I, he grad-
uated from Cornell University in 1922 with a degree in
mechanical engineering. He then joined Public Service Elec-
tric and Gas in New Jersey, where he held various engineering
. .
anc ~ management positions.
In 1941 Walker Cisler was loaned to the Office of Produc-
tion Management, later named the War Production Board.
He served as chief of the Equipment Production Branch,
where he helped organize utilities to serve both the military
and civilian needs for power equipment for the United States
en cl its allies.
In mid-1943 he joined Detroit Edison as chief engineer of
power plants. However, he was quickly granted a leave of ab-
sence when General Dwight D. Eisenhower asked Walker to
join his staff. Walker became the chief of the public utilities
headquarters for General Eisenhower's command, the Su-
preme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. His main job:
rebuild the power plants in war-torn Europe. Walker served in
Sicily, Italy, visited Russia, and entered Paris with General
49
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50
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Charles De Gaulle in August 1944. In less than two weeks, he
had gas en c! electric service restored to Paris. By the time he
completed his assignment in 1945, the French power system
had been repaired and was generating more electric power
than it had in 193S, the last normal year before the war.
He returnee! to Detroit Edison after the war as chief engi-
neer of power plants en c! subsequently became executive
vice-president of the company in 194S, president in 1951, and,
in 1954, also chief executive officer. In 1964 he was elected
chairman of the board, while continuing as chief executive
officer.
From early in his association with the Detroit Edison Com-
pany, Walker became actively engaged in the clevelopment of
atomic energy. He served as executive secretary to the Indus-
trial Advisory Group of the Atomic Energy Commission in
1947-1948 and spearheaded Detroit Edison's participation in
the Atomic Power Development Associates, Inc., and the Pow-
er Reactor Development Company two organizations formed
to design, construct, and operate the Enrico Fermi fast breed-
er reactor project, the first commercial breeder reactor to
produce electric power. It was a remarkable engineering and
. ., ~
scenic first.
He header! the two corporations in aciclition to being the
president of the Func! for Peaceful Atomic Development, Inc.
He was the first president of the Atomic Industrial Forum.
In 1991 the American Nuclear Society established the Walk-
er Lee Cisler Meclal to be awarded for distinguished
contributions in the (levelopment of the fast breeder reactor.
Walker Cisler was the first recipient of the award.
Active in professional, technical, and service organizations,
Walker was a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electron-
ics Engineers, the American Institute of Management, and
the American Nuclear Society. He served as president of the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Engineers
Joint Council, and the Edison Electric Institute.
Walker was a founding member of the National Academy of
Engineering and was active in the formulation of its policies
and objectives. Over the years, he gave liberally of his time in
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WALKER LEE CISLER
51
support of the needs of the growing Academy. The Academy's
success can be attributed to the effort Walker and others like
him devoted to its objectives.
In 1968 Walker was elected chairman of the International
Executive Council of the World Energy Conference (WEC),
becoming the first American to hold this high office. one
WEC, which has representation in sixty-eight countries, cele-
brated its fiftieth anniversary in Detroit in 1974.
Walker has been honored with awards by the American So-
ciety of Mechanical Engineers, the Western Society of
Engineers, the American Institute of Consulting Engineers,
the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania, the National
Society of Professional Engineers, and the Institute of Electri-
c~al and Electronics Engineers and has received joint awards
from several of the engineering societies.
Deeply involved in education, Walker was a trustee of Mari-
etta College and the Michigan Colleges Foundation; a director
r ~ · ~ 1l 1 ~ ~ ^1_ _ ~ TO ~:~ ~
ot buoy college; an honorary trustee or tne university or
Detroit; and a member of the board of directors Development
Fund of Northern Michigan University. Walker was deeply
devoted to his alma mater, Cornell University, having served
as a member of its board of trustees for many years, and was a
trustee emeritus at the time of his death.
Besides working with service organizations of national
scope, including the Business Council and Freedom's Foun-
clation at Valley Forge, Walker was active in local civic and
state affairs. He was chairman of The Economic Club of De-
troit, chairman of the Michigan Committee of the Newcomen
Society in North America, president of the Metropolitan De-
troit Citizens Development Authority, chairman of the
Governor's Commission on Land Use, a board member of
Detroit Renaissance, and a member of New Detroit Incorpo-
rated. He also participated in many of Detroit's cultural
. .
Organlzatlons.
A project close to his heart was the Thomas Alva Edison Foun-
dation. The foundation was established in 1946 under the
presidency of Charles Kettering. Its objective was to preserve EcI-
ison's legacy of ingenuity and innovation and to help create a
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
better understanding of science and technology, especially
among tociay's youth. Walker assumed the leaclership of the
foundation in 195S, and he continuccI its work until his death.
To the very end of his life, Walker Cisler was declicated to
bringing the benefits of electric power to the worIcI, founding
Overseas Advisory Associates, a network of retiree! utility engi-
neering and management executives to assist developing
countries. These includecl Vietnam, Banglaclesh, Brazil, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Korea, Taiwan, arid Jamaica.
Perhaps Cornell University said it best in presenting its
Award of Honor to him on May 26, 1990. It reads as follows:
Walker Lee Cisler '22, social visionary and indefatigable
champion of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, honored
worldwide for his extraordinary and unending efforts to
develop cheap and plentiful electrical resources, recipient
of eighteen decorations, seventeen honorary degrees, and
ten awards in the field of engineering, honorary chairman
of the World Energy Conference, highly valued presidential
councillor and trustee emeritus.
Cornell honors his generosity of spirit, his boundless
energy and patience, his deep commitment to peace, and,
in his own words, 'to making things better' for all people."
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
walker lee
