2002 ACS Award

Walter Blenko Jr., E 1950

With gratitude for his devotion to Carnegie Mellon University, Walter Blenko Jr. was selected as the 2002 Andrew Carnegie Society Recognition Award recipient.

During World War II, before beginning his college career, he served in the U.S. Army (1944-46) as an automatic rifleman in the European Theater of Operations, and with the 95th Infantry Division in Belgium, France, Germany and Holland. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge and Bronze Star Medal.

When he enrolled at Carnegie Tech in the fall of 1946, his class was the largest ever and was composed mostly of veterans returning from the war. “They were a mature and no-nonsense group,” he said. “The students came from a wide variety of economic, cultural and social backgrounds. What motivated them was a singular desire to obtain a Carnegie Tech education. Many, if not most of them, were in the first generation in their families to attend college. Many were there only because the GI Bill made it possible.”

He was awarded a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT) in 1950, then his J.D. degree in 1953 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He was admitted to the bar in 1954.

Walter Blenko became a prominent Pittsburgh attorney specializing in intellectual property law. Currently he is Of Counsel with Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellott.

His dedication to the university has been demonstrated in many ways. He was a member of the ACS Founding Committee, and served as ACS president 1981-83, then as a member of the ACS Executive Committee 1983-2000. He has also served as a member of the Alumni Association Executive Board (AAEB) and its Executive Committee.

In 1984 he received the Alumni Service Award, and in 1993, the Alumni Distinguished Service Award, the university’s highest alumni service award.

He also has a familial heritage with the university. Walter’s father, Dr. Walter J. Blenko Sr. became an ex-officio alumni trustee of CIT in 1943. He was elected as a term trustee in 1959 and later became a life trustee, a capacity in which he served until his death in 1978. He was chairman of the executive committee for 19 years. Dr. Blenko received the Alumni Service Award in 1956, the Alumni Merit Award in 1947 and the Distinguished Service Award in 1967.

During the years Walter Jr. was on campus, he noted there was “an intense concentration on academic subjects, and the level of extracurricular activities was something to behold.”

But the core of his wonderful memories from 50 years ago was overshadowed by the achievements of those students. “They amply justified Andrew Carnegie’s original objective of making higher education available for students based upon their individual merit and desire to learn.”