He died at the age of 78 years because of the consequential complications from a stroke that had occurred to him 11 months earlier from his death.
[1] From 1950 to 1953, Walter studied anthropology, biology, pre and early history, and psychology at the University of Kiel.
The subject of his doctoral dissertation was "Investigations Into the Inheritance of the Above-average or Below-average Height of Small and School Children".
In 1958, he became a research assistant of Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt at the University of Mainz's Institute for Anthropology.
In 1962, he qualified for professorship from the university's Faculty of Natural Sciences for his social anthropological study on the populace of Ruhr.
[1] He also did research on the Indian peoples' genetic variability with respect to the country's ethno–social, regional, and linguistic structure.
In 1991, the Slovak Association of Anthropology granted him an honorary membership, and in 1993, The Asiatic Society gave him a medal named after Thomas Nelson Annandale.