Obituaries

Walter Simpson, who served as UB’s energy officer for 26 years, died Feb. 2 in Buffalo General Medical Center. He was 73.

As UB’s first energy officer, Simpson led a nationally recognized campus energy conservation program — Conserve UB — that is credited with more than $100 million in savings. He also founded and directed the UB Green office, now known as UB Sustainability, and taught many college-level energy and environmental courses.

A native of New Jersey, Simpson attended Lehigh University intending to study nuclear physics, but opposition to the Vietnam War prompted him to change his major and transfer to Boston University. He earned a BA in philosophy from BU, and later earned master’s degrees in philosophy and environmental studies, with a focus on energy policy, from UB.

In the late 1970s he served as director of the Western New York Peace Center, and first became interested in the energy issue when he realized that energy waste and foreign energy dependence could cause war, as well as environmental harm.

Simpson joined UB in 1982 as its energy officer and founded UB Green, which was designed to involve students in alternative energy projects. He was a certified energy manager and held LEED certification for green building. In 1997, a $17 million comprehensive energy project he managed was named a national “Energy Project of the Year” by the Association of Energy Engineers.

The association inducted him into its “Energy Managers’ Hall of Fame” in 2000.

Simpson was the editor/co-author of “The Green Campus: Meeting the Challenge of Environmental Sustainability” and author of “Cool Campus! A How-to Guide for College and University Climate Action Planning.”

He was one of the organizers of the Western New York Sustainable Energy Association in 1990. He and his wife, Nan, co-founded the Western New York Climate Action Coalition in 2006, and he helped organize and lead Clean Energy Jamestown, a coalition of 20 environmental organizations that succeeded in closing an operating coal-fired power plant.

After retiring from UB in 2008, Simpson assisted 30 colleges and universities in developing energy sustainability programs through the Jesse Ball duPont Foundation of Jacksonville, Fla. 

He and his wife were trained by former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Project as climate educators and activists; they also were the recipients of the Sierra Club Niagara Group’s Bruce Kershner Award in 2012 for their “endless and effective work on education about climate change.”

The couple’s commitment to energy conversation extended to their personal lives as well: Their home in Amherst was powered with solar energy generated by photovoltaic panels on the roof.  

Simpson was also a committed vegetarian and animal rights activist. He served as president and co-founder of Animal Rights Advocates of WNY, now Animal Advocates of WNY, and authored the booklets “The Animal Connection” and “The Vegetarian Alternative.”

A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.