Walter (Walt) Mussler, passed away on December 30, 2017 at home. Walt was born in New York City in 1931.

Soon after graduating from Brooklyn Tech, he joined the Air Force and served as a sergeant in the Strategic Air Command until he was honorably discharged in 1955. A year before discharge, he was home on a Christmas leave and had a blind date with Joan Piasecki (Knoxville, TN) who was also visiting relatives in New York. They enjoyed a few wonderful dates before they had to leave. After his discharge, Walt returned to New York and joined IBM as a Customer Engineer. Joan also returned to New York to live with her aunt and uncle. In 1956, he married Joan, with whom he shared 57 wonderful years, part of which was raising five sons.

Walt spent the memorable late 1950's and early-mid 1960's at IBM's computer facility at Cape Canaveral, FL in support of NASA's launch program. In 1965, Poughkeepsie, NY was the next stop, providing technical support for large computer systems and eventually becoming the World Trade Site Representative at Poughkeepsie, NY. In 1973, the final stop was Raleigh, providing product planning, becoming part of the "troika" (Field Engineering-Engineering-Manufacturing) review group and site representative for parts distribution. Walt retired in 1990 after 35 years with IBM.

He was a do-it-yourself person. After settling down in Raleigh, his wife said the 2600 sq. ft. house was too small, he added a 2800 sq. ft. addition to make it a 5400 sq. ft. house. When she said they needed a swimming pool, he and his sons hand dug and built a concrete 20' by 40' pool, complete with a diving board and large wrap around patio and deck in the backyard. He always had numerous items on his to do list and it always got bigger. No wonder he rarely ever met with the old crew every Friday morning.

Walt was preceded in death by his wife on August 7, 2013. He is survived by his sons: Dennis Mussler, and his wife, Bridget, of Wake Forest, NC; Scott Mussler of Raleigh; Keith Mussler, and his wife, Laura, of Hope Mills, NC; Kevin Mussler of Raleigh; Eric Mussler, and his wife, Sheri, of Raleigh; and grandchildren: Alexandra Mussler, Jordan Mussler, Colin Mussler, Zach Mussler, Joshua Gutierrez, Quandy Rodrigues, Roman Gutierrez, Brooke Mussler, Michael Mussler, Nicole Mussler, Dean Mussler, Lauren Mussler, Brianna Riddle, Coleman Spencer, and Ashton Spencer.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Transitions LifeCare at https://transitionslifecare.org/donate/donate-now or sent to 250 Hospice Circle, Raleigh, NC 27607