Sandra Sue Walther

Sandra Sue Walther, PhD, the youngest of three children, was born on November 1, 1937 to Sandor Platz and Margaret Heisler, Hungarian immigrants and residents of Chicago, IL. She completed a BA in Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1959 and later earned a Master’s and Doctor of Philosophy from Yale University in New Haven, CT. After completing her master’s degree, she married Hans Walther, had their son, Christopher Martin Walther, and shortly thereafter, moved to New Jersey. Her love for symbolic logic led to her pioneer work in data and computer science in the 1960’s, writing complex code at the dawn of a new era in digital technology. She joined the Philosophy Department at Rider College and later became the head administrator of the AAUP union of tenured professors at Rutgers University. During her career as an expert consultant in data science, she authored and co-authored many ground-breaking articles in data engineering and computer science and eventually became an expert in website design well into her golden years.

Sandra combined her knowledge of computers with her love of drawing, painting, and photography, creating digital art as a hobby. In her retirement years, she became a long-term resident of Vermont with her husband, Richard “Dick” Peskin, PhD. She enjoyed needle crafts, tending her flower gardens, decorating their country-style house, and leading their beloved pack of huskies in their “morning roo.” Sandra was known for her love of telling family stories, her quick wit, and clever wordplays. Even in her last days, she expressed her thoughts in both a philosophical and witty manner, to the delight of those who met her.

Sandra is pre-deceased by parents, Sandor and Margaret (nee Heisler) Platz, sister Laura Sedgewick (nee Platz), brother Eugene Platz, spouses Hans Walther and Richard Peskin, and stepson-in-law Allen Morrison.

She is survived by her son, Christopher Walther (Leiann), stepdaughters Elisa Morrison (Allen) and Karen Bauer (Jim), grandchildren Tara Harrell (Eric), Lauren Bauer, Erin Elizabeth May (Baylor), Thomas Bauer, Scotty Bauer, and Drew Ton-Morrison (Thy), and great-grandchildren, Leityn May, Susanna May, Ivayla May, and Ezra Harrell.