Walter Green Jr., retired affirmative action manager, business owner, and community advocate, has died at 91
He built a career and business that helped people make the most of their opportunities. His son called him a “maker of men.”
Walter Green Jr., 91, of Bensalem, retired affirmative action manager for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, founder of Walter Green and Associates consultants, job readiness teacher, community advocate, and veteran, died Friday, Oct. 6, at Paul’s Run rehabilitation center in Philadelphia.
Mr. Green spent more than 30 years working in Philadelphia for the EEOC, the Department of Labor, and the Army Signal Corps. He was an expert on federal labor laws and unlawful discrimination, and, as affirmative action manager for the Mid-Atlantic region, enforced the EEOC’s regulations on hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, wages, benefits, and other work-related issues.
After he retired in 1987, he used his expertise to counsel his own clients for Walter Green and Associates. He also taught job readiness classes at Bucks County Community College, the Bucks County Office of Employment and Training, and other locations.
He was a tireless leader for the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, his church, and many civic associations and nonprofits. “He was busier after he retired,” said his son Derek.
No matter where he was, Mr. Green made a difference for people, and his family met many who credited him for their success and called him a second father. His son said: “I call him a maker of men.”
Mr. Green joined Kappa Alpha Psi in 1969 and served as a board member and in other leadership roles. As president of the Philadelphia Alumni Chapter Housing Corp. in the 1990s, he helped establish the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Achievement Center in Germantown.
He earned an Achievement Award from the Philadelphia Alumni Chapter in 1983 and later received the James M. Kidd Award from officials at the fraternity’s Northeastern Province.
He cofounded the Lower Bucks County Optimist Club and was board director of Volunteers in Teaching Alternative. He was a member of the Bucks County NAACP and a Democratic nominee for the Bensalem Township School District board of directors.
“He wanted to bring people together,” his son said. “He thought it was important to give back.”
Walter Green Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1932, in Ayden Township, Pitt County, N.C. The youngest of 10 children, he grew up on the family farm, learned to value relationships and responsibility, and wrote stories about his world for the high school newspaper. “Walter was a determined and focused young man,” his family said in a tribute.
He took classes at Morgan State University before joining the Army in the early 1950s, and at Southern Illinois University during his enlistment. He was stationed in Germany for a time and discharged in 1956.
A plan to live in California fell through, so Mr. Green followed his brother and sister-in-law to Philadelphia. He worked at first at the Army Signal Corps and at night earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a certificate in accounting from Temple University in 1966. Later, he took graduate classes at Temple.
He married Lorraine Pulley, and they had son Rodney. After a divorce, he met Anita Winters at Temple night school. They married in 1968 and had son Derek and daughter Valerie. The family lived in Philadelphia before moving to Bensalem in 1972.
Mr. Green was active at the Canaan Baptist Church of Germantown for more than two decades and served as a trustee and member of several boards and committees. He joined Salem Baptist Church of Abington in 1991, assumed more leadership roles, and particularly enjoyed chaperoning students on tours of historically Black colleges and universities.
He played tennis and golf, and bridge with his wife. They traveled the country and visited Canada, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.
He followed the local pro sports teams and attended the Penn Relays as often as possible. He built a second home on the family farm in Grifton, N.C., and spent memorable evenings there with family and friends.
He checked up on his children often. “He wanted to know what you were up to and how he could be helpful,” his son Derek said. “He was a very thoughtful, loving man. He always said: ‘Do your best at all times.’”
His daughter said: “He was an incredibly wonderful human being.”
In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Green is survived by three grandchildren, a sister, and other relatives. Seven brothers and one sister died earlier.
A celebration of his life is to be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Salem Baptist Church of Abington, 2741 Woodland Rd., Abington, Pa. 19001.
Donations in his name may be made to the Kappa Alpha Psi Scholarship Fund at the Achievement Academy, 5521-29 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19144; and the Scholarship and Endowment Ministry at Salem Baptist Church of Abington, 2741 Woodland Rd., Abington, Pa. 19001.