Walter Glenn Kirkland

Born September 28, 1947, in Atlanta, Georgia, Walter Kirkland was the son of Alton Kirkland and Lucy Philips Kirkland. He is survived by wife Judy Culbreth, daughter Renie Delorme Kirkland, brother Philip Kirkland (Marianna), niece Caroline McAlpine (Eric) and nephew Andrew Kirkland. Walter died at 9:28, Thursday March 13, 2025, at his home in Fairhope.

A third generation Atlantan, Walter had fond memories of growing up in the leafy Morningside neighborhood of the city. He attended Morningside Elementary School and high school at Marist. From a very early age, his extroverted personality opened many doors for him socially. He attracted a cadre of neighborhood pals and maintained close, lifelong ties with grammar school and high school classmates.

He liked to tell the story of how his likeable, “sales personality” sold the Dean of Admissions on giving him a slot at the University of North Carolina. “Kirkland, I’m going to take a chance on you.” Walter, a major in economics and Spanish, graduated in 1969. He may not have been Tarheel born, but he was Tarheel bred and a devoted fan of all things Carolina Blue, a loyalty he shared with friends and members of his fraternity. In their seventies, he and his frat brothers organized get-togethers at Chapel Hill and chatted on Zoom every month.

From October 1969 to October 1971, Walter served in the U.S. Army as a combat engineer, attaining the rank of sergeant. Ironically, the kid who had played with cherry bombs in his Southern backyard was assigned as a demolition expert in Germany. The duty was hazardous, but Walter found the bright side of the assignment. While in Bavaria, he dated the Burgermeister’s buxom daughter and, using his economic smarts, made enough money on transition loans to other G.I.’s to buy a Volkswagen and tool around Europe.

Repatriated from overseas, Walter settled back in Atlanta. His father, owner of a successful ad agency, gave his son an important piece of advice that steered his civilian career: “Be in a position that brings in the business.” Walter decided on fixed income sales. His first job, in 1972, was as a municipal bond salesman for Citizens and Southern Bank. In the fall of 1975, Walter sold his car, all his furniture, and moved to New York City in hopes of landing a position on Wall Street. He started at Chase Manhattan Bank where he worked for four years.

Walter married Glenda Cecil, a banker, in 1976. They resided in Montclair, New Jersey, most of their married life. Walter and Glenda’s daughter, Renie, was born in 1980. About that time Citibank recruited Walter to run a sales team covering financial institutions in the South and the Midwest. His success on rough and tumble trading floors and as a capital markets executive was noticed. In 1983, Walter was assigned as head of US dollar bond sales and trading for Citibank’s London capital markets division. He and his family lived in England for three and a half years.

After returning to America in 1987, Walter continued to work at Citibank where he was Head Trader for US Federal Agency securities. He left Citibank in 1992, and that same year he and Glenda decided to divorce. For the next decade, he pursued a career in marketing, raising money for hedge funds and private equity funds.

Great change was afoot on the eve of the Millennium. Walter said his greatest triumph as a salesman was winning the heart of beloved wife Judy. One line on Walter’s online dating profile helped seal the deal “I have worked and lived in New York for 25 years, but I haven’t lost my accent or my manners.”

After the first meeting in 1999, the couple married in 2002. By then Walter had opened his own company Kirkland Capital Resources (KCR). In 2005, having built a vacation house in Fairhope, Alabama, where Judy’s family lived, the couple decided to make the town a permanent home when she was offered a job as editor of Mobile Bay Magazine. He handled the sale of their townhouse in New Jersey and secured office space in Fairhope for KCR. He quickly immersed himself in community activities.

Well-known for his love of music, and a fiddle player himself, Walter served as Chairman of the Board of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra from 2018 to 2020. He also booked and hosted house concerts for traditional artists at his home on Weeks Bay. He counts many of these guests-- some of them noted international musicians--as friends. The avid fly fisherman, who shared his hobby with daughter Renie and brother Phil, was also an environmentalist who served on the board of Weeks Bay Foundation (now South Alabama Land Trust) for seven years. Walter dabbled in writing as well, and several articles that focused on fly fishing in and around the Gulf Coast were published in national sporting magazines.

Walter was most proud of just being a very good salesman. The amiability and true interest in others that fueled his career success overflowed into his personal relationships. His listening skills, storytelling, humorous wit, intelligence and love of sports, arts and fun will be missed by his many friends and family. A private celebration and remembrance of Walter will be held at his home.

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