Rodney Walters Ph.D.

Rodney (Rod) Walters was born in Mason City, Iowa on March 24, 1953. He was the oldest son of Robert and Dorothy (Kalec) Walters. He graduated from Mason City High School in 1971 where he was a top student and was awarded a National Merit Scholarship. In 1974 he earned B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biology at Iowa State University, then a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1980. He returned to Iowa State University as an assistant professor of chemistry. In 1986 he left academia and began a long career in the pharmaceutical industry in Kalamazoo, Michigan, beginning in the Drug Metabolism Research group of the Upjohn Company where he developed bioanalytical assay methods and performed pharmacokinetic studies of new drug candidates. In 2003 the former Upjohn Company merged with Pfizer and Rod joined Pfizer Animal Health, which later was spun off as Zoetis. He retired in 2021. His proudest achievements included designing and supervising the pharmacokinetic and immunogenicity studies for the first three monoclonal antibody products approved for the treatment of animal diseases.

In 1974 Rod married Sandra Nelson. After completing graduate school at UNC and returning to Iowa, sons Alex and Ted were born in 1983 and 1985, respectively. Rod married Kristina (Kris) Bazali in 1991 in Michigan. Son Nate was born in 1993 and joined stepdaughter Katrina in the family. Rod and Kris spent many wonderful years together in the house they built on 12 acres in Kalamazoo. They enjoyed annual trips to Jamaica and Chicago and occasional trips to Lake Michigan, Mackinac Island, Detroit, the east coast, and visiting relatives in Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, California, Florida and Idaho. Work related trips were made to Canada and England. Adventures were had in various countries and cities: Italy, Israel, Greek Isles, Slovenia, Venice, Iceland, Czech Republic and various cruises to Caribbean countries.

Rod enjoyed building and fixing things. Early in life he did woodworking and was able to build very nice furniture and toys. Later he took auto classes and began fixing wrecked cars, a hobby that began with his father. He learned to perform frame repair, body repair, welding, and painting. He took pride in making late-model wrecked cars 'like new' again.

Rod is preceded in death by his parents and an infant sister, Karen. He is survived by brothers Gary (Patty) Walters, Kevin (Carol) Walters; wife Kristina Bazali; children Alexander (Rebecca) Walters, Theodore (Jillian) Walters, and Nathaniel (Josie) Walters; stepdaughter Katrina (Devon Brinkley) Smoker; and grand-children and step-grandchildren Natalya, Steven, Eloise, Nora, Mae, Oliver, Avery, and Noah.