Skip Walther’s attachment to Columbia and the University of Missouri began early —  through selling carnations and cokes to Tiger fans on game days and watching his Uncle Butch preside over the Boone County Commission. So when it became time to choose a college, it was a no-brainer.

“I never even gave it a second thought,” he said. “I just love this place.”

Walther’s admiration for the practice of law, too, began in childhood. He frequently interacted with attorneys through his mother’s work as a legal secretary, through his uncle, who he describes as a “second father” while in junior high, and through his step-father Scott Wright.

Walther said that decision to become a lawyer was a natural progression for him, just as choosing to attend Mizzou was. So when the time came to choose a law school: “there was no choice … I was going to come here.”

Law school also offered an important opportunity for Walther: lasting stability for himself and his family.

This summer, the Columbia Missourian spoke with Walther about how law school helped him and his family create generational wealth, allowing him to support his children, Robyn and Bryan, through their undergraduate studies and passing down financial knowledge.

Walther put it quite succinctly:

“(Law) has the potential to be a lucrative profession,” he said. “If you work hard, you’re going to make a good living.”

Since graduating from law school in 1979, Walther has remained in Columbia, moving from the Boone County Prosecutor’s office to private practice before opening his own business in 1988. He attributes the success of that transition, in part, to the connections he made in law school and in the mid-Missouri community.

“It’s a very collegial profession,” he said. “And that allows you to develop professional relationships and business relationships.”

After spending time as president of the Missouri Bar in 2009, Walther has a recommendation for other attorneys: give back to your profession. He said that it contributed much to his appreciation for his career.

“I cannot overemphasize how rewarding that kind of work is,” Walter said. “it’s a wonderful profession where you can not only make a comfortable living, you can mingle with some of the smartest people in the state.”

Walther is serving as a class representative for the class of 1979 at the 1970’s reunion on the weekend of November 11.