Walter grew up in Wisconsin. After serving as a First Lieutenant in the Army Air Forces during WWII, Walter completed his education with an MBA from the University of Wisconsin and started work in a bank in Milwaukee. He and Mary were married and started their family; however, within a few years Walter received an offer from a bank in Los Angeles and decided to move Mary and the kids to Southern California. In the early 1960’s Walter transitioned from his career in finance to real estate. After a fifteen-year period of working for a leading Orange County development firm he began actively building his family-owned industrial development and investment business, Frome Investments.