Walter H. Mahnke, CPO, a longtime business owner specializing in prosthetics, passed away on June 30 at the age of 90 in Hollywood, Florida. Born July 6, 1916, in Duluth, Minnesota, Mahnke started in the O&P business working for his father's company in Duluth, Minnesota, at the age of 15. First certified as an orthotist-prosthetist in 1951, Mahnke and his wife, Violet, managed facilities in Minnesota, Florida, and Canada before opening the first of three Mahnke's Orthotics-Prosthetics Inc. branches in Fort Lauderdale in 1975. Mahnke, who served in the military as a member of the Army Air Corp in World War II, was proud to have been connected to the days of the O&P industry "when legs were still carved out of willow wood," according to friends and colleagues. Mahnke retired in 1988. Mahnke is survived by his children, Marilyn, Jerald, Robert, Bonnie, Barbara and George; 11 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wifeof nearly 40 years, Violet.
