Walter B. Rise, Jr., passed away September 4, 2026, at the age of 95. He was born June 2, 1931, in Bradenton Memorial Hospital to Walter B. Rise, Sr. and Myrtle Mae Rise (Geech). He has returned to God, his parents, his beloved wife Beverly (Beville), and older sisters Helen (Walker), Jean (King), and Rose (Cobb).
Walter’s education began at Ballard Elementary School, and he graduated from Manatee County High School, in 1949. He was a lifelong member of the First United Methodist Church in downtown Bradenton. He graduated from the University of Florida School of Architecture in 1954. It was here that he embraced the tenets of modernism in architecture at a time of great experimentation after WWII.
Serving in the Army in the aftermath of the Korean War, he was awarded for meritorious service organizing and planning the 1956 Mona Lisa Arctic Resupply mission between Seattle and Alaska during the Cold War. Achieving the rank of Captain, he was honorably discharged and returned to Bradenton to begin his career in architecture.
Walter worked for the local firm Croll & Wilkinson, and it is here that he met Beverly Ann Beville, the firm’s secretary, and his future bride. In 1961 they married and remained together for 49 years until her passing. Not long after they married, they moved to Vero Beach where he continued to work as an architect. After the birth of their eldest son, Eric Walter, they relocated to Tallahassee and welcomed their middle child Bruce William while working for the Florida Department of Education. A position with IBM took the family to Merritt Island where their daughter Kimberly Ann was born.
In 1969, Walter moved the family back to Bradenton to continue his career in architecture. The following year they moved into the family home he designed and lived in for the next 47 years. He opened his own architecture firm in 1976 and retired in 2002. He designed many public, commercial, and residential structures and felt strongly that Florida should have its own vernacular architecture. Even after he retired, he remained active in the Gulf Coast
Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Walter was an active Rotarian. He was a Paul Harris Fellow, and past president with perfect attendance during his membership. Through Rotary he was a small part of the eradication of polio throughout the world, as well as selling many a funnel cake at community events, and ringing the Salvation Army bell with great cheer for decades of Christmas seasons. Because of his love of music, in retirement, he served his church as the volunteer sound director.
Over the years he was a volunteer for the local Boy Scouts and the Pram Fleet of the Bradenton Yacht Club. He enjoyed get-aways to the family cottage in Boone, N.C., sunsets overlooking the Gulf, and looking out over the Manatee River – which he came to call “my river” in his final days. He was the rock of his family and was the ever-constant caretaker of his wife Beverly during her courageous battle with cancer.
Rise is survived by sons Eric (Karen) of Newark, DE, and Bruce of Palm Springs, CA; daughter Kimberly Kalaman (Jeff) of Bradenton, Fl; five adoring grandchildren, Megan Rise (Allen Kishpaugh), Madeline Cannon (Clay), Olivia Kalaman, Andrew Kalaman, and Evelyn Kalaman; two great- grandsons, Carter Cannon and Chase Cannon; and numerous beloved nieces and nephews and their spouses.
Funeral service will be Friday, September 11, 11:00 am at First United Methodist Church,603 11th St W, Bradenton, FL 34205.
Brown & Sons Funeral Homes & Crematory 43rd Street Chapel, 604 43rd Street, Bradenton, Florida, is in charge of funeral arrangements.
