In memoriam : Walter Löwe: 1941 - 2024

Abstract

Walter was born in Pretoria on 30 August 1941. His mother was also from Pretoria while his father immigrated from Germany in 1932. He attended the German primary school in Pretoria and finished his school career at the Pretoria Technical College where he received honours as fitter and turner. After school, he volunteered for training in the South African Airforce before commencing with his veterinary studies at the University of Pretoria where he qualified as a veterinarian in 1966. He started his career as a state veterinarian in Pretoria – a post he occupied from 1966 to 1976. He had to manage an outbreak of foot and mouth disease at Komatipoort along the Kruger National Park; control an extensive outbreak of Newcastle disease; was involved in a campaign to control tsetse flies in the then Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and was overall responsible for disease control in the Caprivi in the north-eastern region of Namibia. In 1968 he met Dörte Kleyenstüber, from South West Africa (Namibia) while she was a student at the University of Pretoria. They got married in Swakopmund on 3 April 1970 and were blessed with 5 children (2 sons and 3 daughters) and 11 grandchildren. Walter also obtained a post-graduate diploma in Veterinary Public Health from the University of Pretoria in 1975. H he was appointed as regional director of veterinary services for the then Transvaal region (now Gauteng). His move back to Pretoria. On 1 October 1988, Walter was promoted to Deputy Director In the head office of Veterinary Services in Pretoria and in 1993 to Director of Veterinary Public Health. In 1995 he took the option of early retirement from Government service to give more dedicated attention to the family piggery. In 2002 Walter was approached by the Director of Veterinary Services to do consultancy work for them – mainly to assist with compiling and negotiating import and export protocols for animals and animal products to and from the European Union. He did this for 5 years and then finally retired in 2008. Walter Manfred Herbert Löwe lost his fight against cancer on 28 August 2024 at the age of 82 – a mere 2 days before his 83rd birthday.