James M. Walter

Below is the death notice of James Walter, Class of 1963, a dedicated alumnus and visionary. Recognized as Man of the Year for his class, Jim was deeply grateful for his St. Edward experience. In 2014, he and his wife Marianne, established the Forward Scholarship supporting dozens of Edsmen. Jim’s brother, Robert, is Class of 1965. Please keep the Walter family in your prayers.

Walter, James M.
LOUDONVILLE - James M. Walter passed from this life on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, in the loving presence of his family.
Jim was born on June 14, 1945, in Victoria, Texas, where his father, Chuck, was stationed along with his mother, Kay, at Foster Army Air Field, where Chuck served as a flight instructor, training combat pilots. Following the end of World War II, they returned to their home in Cleveland, Ohio.
Jim grew up in Cleveland, graduated from St. Edward High School and earned his bachelor's degree at Ohio University and an MBA at CUNY Bernard Baruch College in Manhattan.
During his early career, Jim worked in N.Y. at a major advertising agency. He left advertising while still in his twenties to pursue other entrepreneurial ventures. He was recruited to head up marketing at a startup HMO located in Boston, Mass. He grew the company to become one of the largest health plans in the region. While leading that company, he started a specialty managed care subsidiary, and subsequently moved over to become CEO of that company.
In the summer of 1984, Jim met Marianne Dunbar. They were married less than a year later, and she quickly became the major focus of his life.
The next fifteen years were spent in Boston, where Marianne taught first grade, and Jim developed the managed care company that he had started. They shared a common faith, values and commitment to family and friends, along with leisure time jogging, skiing, boating and bicycling together. Jim cared deeply for his daughters, Kristen and Candace; his brother, Bo and his family; his sister, Kathy, who predeceased him; his sisters-in-law, Diane and Ann Marie; and his brother-in-law, Marty and his family.
In 2000, he sold his interest in the company in Boston, and he and Marianne purchased a small regional service company in western N.Y. This prompted a move to Albany, N.Y., where Marianne had grown up. They quickly recognized that they could use the new emerging internet technology to market the company's services nationally and to become early telecommuters, eventually working from Albany, Naples, Fla. and Hyannis, Mass. Marianne's twin sister, Diane, joined the company and in the years that followed, the company grew to serve thousands of employers and their 1.5 million employees and dependents. They sold the company and retired in 2021.
Since retiring, Jim was able to reflect on, understand and thank God for his great good fortune to have married Marianne, have a wonderful family and friends and have been given the opportunity to pursue his entrepreneurial dream.
A Funeral Mass for Jim will be celebrated by the Reverend James Walsh on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, at 11:30 a.m., in St. Pius X Church, 23 Crumitie Road, Loudonville. The Rite of Committal and entombment will immediately follow the Mass in the American St. Mausoleum in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands.
Family and friends are invited to attend and may also visit with Jim's family at St. Pius X Church on Tuesday, prior to the Mass, beginning at 10:30 a.m.
Please visit Jim's online memorial tribute at www.cummingsfuneralhome.com , where fond memories and words of comfort and condolence may be shared electronically with his family.

Posted on: December 18, 2024