Rosalind P. Walter (née Palmer; June 25, 1924 – March 4, 2020) was an American philanthropist and humanities advocate who was best known for her late 20th and early 21st century support for public television programming across the United States. She also contributed to the improvement of educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth and the protection of wildlife and open space areas.
During World War II, she inspired the creation of "Rosie the Riveter", a song about civilian women employed in the war industry which was penned by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb and popularized by Kay Kyser and The Four Vagabonds.
"Known by the nickname Roz," according to executives of WNET, New York's public television station, Walter "cared deeply about the quality and educational value of public television and understood the importance of reaching the broadest possible audience."
Early life
Rosalind Palmer was born on June 25, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York, a daughter of the late Winthrop (Bushnell) Palmer, chair and professor of literature and fine arts at Long Island University, and Carleton Humphreys Palmer, president of E. R. Squibb and Sons, a Brooklyn, New York-based pharmaceutical company which was founded in 1892 and is now a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.
Raised in New York City, she was educated at Connecticut's Ethel Walker School. In 1940, she lived in Manhattan with her parents and older siblings, Lowell and Winthrop.
During the 1950s, she relocated with her family to Centre Island in Nassau County New York.
World War II
Following her graduation from high school, Rosalind Palmer became one of many young women to secure jobs in the war industry during World War II. "The powerful female image of Rosie (the Riveter) was developed under the auspices of the War Production Board to inspire patriotic behavior," according to heritage writer Ginny McPartland, who reported in 2013 that the idea to give "the female war worker the name of 'Rosie' probably started with a newspaper story about Rosalind P. Walter, an aircraft factory worker in New York." Hired for the night shift, Palmer was, in fact, employed as "a riveter on Corsair fighter planes", according to The New York Times. Additional sources have noted that she worked on F4U marine gull-winged fighter airplanes, and that she "broke records for speed on the production line, advocating for equal pay for her female co-workers.
In 1942, she inspired Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb to write the song, "Rosie the Riveter", which was then recorded by Kay Kyser and The Four Vagabonds.
In 1943, The Roanoke Times reprinted an article from a New York newspaper, which had described Palmer as follows: "We really have a Rosie the Riveter, who is Rosalind Palmer, 19, a dark-tressed society doll, who had just finished a year of hard work as a night-shift welder at the Sikorsky aircraft plant at Bridgeport, Conn." Adding that she was renting a room that summer in Fairfield, which enabled her to commute "25 miles to her job," she said she had been teamed with "a crackerjack welder" who helped her to become confident and competent in her work on fighter planes and would "'keep at this job until the war is over."
Post-war life and philanthropy
Following war's end, Rosalind Palmer wed Henry S. Thompson, a lieutenant with the United States Navy Reserve. They were married at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York on June 22, 1946, and became the parents of son Henry. They divorced in 1954.
In 1956, Rosalind (Palmer) Thompson wed Henry Glendon Walter, Jr. (1910–2000) in Manhattan. A friend of the Palmer family who was employed by the law firm of Fulton, Walter & Halley in 1945, Henry G. Walter, Jr. later went on to become president (1962) and chairman and chief executive (1970) of International Flavors and Fragrances, a position he held until his retirement in 1985.
Throughout their marriage, they were jointly and independently active in a range of philanthropic activities, including serving as trustees for the American Museum of Natural History and Long Island University, which awarded her an honorary degree in 1983, and noted in 2000 that "Hank and Roz have been first citizens and benefactors of this University in every respect."
In 1951, she established the Walter Foundation, which is known today as The Rosalind P. Walter Foundation. Based in New York City, this private non-operating foundation was designated as a 501(c)(3) organization by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in May 1953.