Chairman of Detroit Edison
McNichols Distinguished Achievement Award
1974
Bio:
Mr. Cisler began his rise through Detroit Edison's ranks in the 1940's. He became executive vice president in 1948, president and a member of the board in 1951 and chairman and chief executive in 1964. He retired as chairman in 1975.
In his years as head of the company, he supervised the reconstruction and expansion of the power system that serves southeastern Michigan and expanded the company's connections with neighboring utilities.
He was a tireless advocate of atomic energy and served as a consultant to the Atomic Energy Commission and the National Security Resources Board. He also served as the president of the Atomic Industrial Forum and the Fund for Peaceful Atomic Development and as chairman of the International Executive Council of the World Energy Conference.
Perhaps his biggest disappointment was the development of the experimental Enrico Fermi fast-breeder nuclear reactor in Monroe, Mich., 50 miles west of Detroit. The project was to have been a showpiece of the 1974 World Energy Conference. But a series of malfunctions, including melting fuel in 1966, led to the project's demise in 1972.
Walker Lee Cisler was born on Oct. 8, 1897, in Marietta, Ohio, and grew up in Gradyville, Pa. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering at Cornell University in 1922. He joined the Public Service Electric and Gas Company in New Jersey as a cadet engineer.
He advanced steadily, becoming assistant chief engineer of the electric department in 1938. In 1941, before the United States entered World War II, the company lent him to the Government to help persuade manufacturers to integrate electrical equipment production schedules with the needs of the defense program. Two years later, his mission accomplished, he joined Detroit Edison.
But before he could begin, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson asked him to join the Army. As a colonel, he supervised reconstruction of power systems in the wake of the Allied advance across North Africa and through Europe.
When Mr. Cisler left Detroit Edison in 1975, he turned his attention to organizing Overseas Advisory Associates, a nonprofit Michigan corporation that advised foreign countries on the development of energy industries.
He was also active in community affairs in Detroit. He served on the boards of numerous companies, founded the national Academy of Engineering, held nearly a score of honorary degrees and was decorated by the United States and 17 foreign governments.