| Introducing Walter Munk, or “The Old Man and the Sea” |
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bridges vol. 17, April 2008 / News from the Network: Austrian Researchers Abroad by Pepita Adelmann mp3 download Through the glass doors of DC's famous Cosmos Club, I can see an elderly man waving and smiling warmly at me. "We've been expecting you," he says with a lovely accent that includes unmistakable British politeness and traces of German. "Shall we sit upstairs?" It's hard to keep up, as the 90-year-old Dr. Walter Munk, Secretary of the Navy, Chief of Naval Operations Oceanography, and Chair of the world-famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, briskly climbs up the stairs, needing no assistance but a simple walking stick. 
Walter Munk and his travel companion Faye Girsh at the Cosmos Club
However, many decades ago, a young Munk hadn't the slightest intention of becoming a member of such a distinguished club. In the early 1930s, his mother had to send him to the United States at only 15 years of age to attend prep school in New York "because they made boys work hard. My mother practically exiled me," Munk remembers with a laugh, adding: "Clearly I didn't want to come. I had way too much fun at home, always skiing instead of studying." Growing up in the picturesque Austrian Salzkammergut in the village of Altaussee, Munk was more interested in sports than in school; he was president of a skiing club and once even made it to the Austrian semi-semi finals in tennis. His mother had planned his career in banking and wanted him to join the New York City bank started by his grandfather Lucian Brunner, a prominent banker and Austrian politician. "I hated the whole thing and did a lousy job! At one stage my mother gave up on me. She gave me some money and wished me good luck. So I bought a car and drove to California." Access to the full article is free, but requires you to register. Registration is simple and quick – all we need is your name and a valid e-mail address. We appreciate your interest in bridges. |
