Born in Piqua, Ohio, Kalbfleisch received a Bachelor of Laws from the Warren G. Harding College of Law (now the Claude W. Pettit College of Law) at Ohio Northern University in 1923 where he was a member of Sigma Pi fraternity.

He was prosecuting attorney of Richland County, Ohio from 1929 to 1933.

He was a Common Pleas Judge for Richland County from 1943 to 1959.

[2] Kalbfleisch was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on August 21, 1959, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio vacated by Judge Paul Charles Weick.

Kalbfleisch served in that capacity until his death on April 1, 1990.