Glenn Walters, ex-Herman Miller exec. key in launch of cubicle workspaces, dies at age 85

Walters, former Herman Miller exec., dies at 85

GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Glenn M. Walters, a former Herman Miller Inc. executive who was key in marketing the original open-plan office system that led to the now ubiquitous cubicle, has died. He was 85.

Walters died Sunday at his home in Kent County’s Grand Rapids Township, Metcalf & Jonkhoff Funeral Service said. A cause of death wasn’t released.

Walters joined Zeeland-based Herman Miller in 1955 as a field salesman. In 1967, he led a task force that finished development and handled marketing for the Action Office system, which was introduced in 1968.

“He was selected as the person to take the product from research, put through design and development, and bring to market,” Tom Pratt, 74, of Holland, who worked with Walters, said Wednesday. “He was a dynamo and he pulled the company together.”

The Action Office system, with its movable walls, was a departure from the typical fixed office desks of the time and helped make cubicles commonplace. The system became Herman Miller’s most profitable product.

“We had the design and concept pretty well, but it had to be engineered for production,” Jack Kelley, 77, of Grand Haven, a designer who also worked with Walters, told The Grand Rapids Press. “The key thing about that system: it was never designed to be a cubicle. There was always an openness to it.”

Walters served in the U.S. Air Force from 1943 to 1945 and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1948. He served as president of Herman Miller from 1980 until 1982, when he retired.

His wife, Virginia Schnell Walters, died in 2006. Walters is survived by their children and their families.

A memorial and reception are planned for April 30 at Kent Country Club in Grand Rapids. For those who would like to remember Walters, his family asked for a donations to a charity of the donor’s choice in his name.