Walter Beller
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Walter A. Beller |
Walter A. Beller was born in 1931 in Germany, close to the French border in the Western Palatinate. His early years were characterized by a stable home environment and success in school, but his peaceful life was disrupted by the upheaval of mass construction and his older brothers all leaving home for military service as World War II developed.
The Beller family home was situated between the defensive lines of Germany, the Siegfried Line, and France’s Maginot Line. His family was forced to evacuate more than once and endured frequent bomb and artillery attacks. Beller clearly recalls the deprivations and fear and the lonely times without friends or schoolmates. Living through post-war American and French occupations provided him with unforgettable experiences, many mischievously funny though frequently dangerous.
Beller began his career in 1951. Drawing on a background in business and industrial engineering, he sold equipment for and participated in the construction of major public dam and lock projects on the Mosel, Necker, and other German rivers. He co-founded Turbo Lufttechnik, GmbH, a company that built fans for large power plants and wind tunnels for automotive and aircraft industries throughout the world. American viewers saw one of these tunnel fans, 27 feet in diameter, in a popular television commercial. In 1975, he co-founded U.S. Fan Company to license the same products in America, eventually serving as the company’s Chairman and CEO.
Beller became a U.S. citizen in 1988 and officially retired in 1993. He has served on several boards and is still acting chairman of a high tech company in South Carolina and on the board of a Luxembourg holding company. Walter Beller has a daughter and stepdaughter, and he lives with his wife, Cheryl, in Sarasota, Florida.
His first book, “Between the Lines,” presents both a record of his personal experience as a boy living through World War II and a great deal of historical research on the war and politics of the time. “His second book, “On Two Continents: My Business Adventures in Europe & America” was published posthumously in 2010.”