Walter H. Andrus, Jr.
2005 PRG Hall of Fame Inductee
Lifetime Achievement Award

Walt Andrus founded the best known and largest UFO research organization in the world, MUFON, and kept it together for 31 years when he turned it over to long time friend and fellow director, John Schuessler.   It is appropriate that Walt and James McDonald are inducted in the same year as Dr. McDonald worked closely with NICAP, the first national UFO research organization which MUFON essentially replaced.

Biography and Accomplishments

After 57 years of dedicated interest in extraterrestrial-related phenomena, Walt Andrus is a legend.  As with so many others, that interest was precipitated in August 15, 1948, when he and his  wife and son had a daylight sighting of four objects flying in formation over downtown Phoenix,  Arizona.  The rest is history.  [Note. 49 years later lights in formation would once again be seen over Phoenix, Arizona.] 

He went on to be a founding member of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in 1969 and the International Director of the MUFON from 1970 to July 16, 2000 when he was succeeded by John F. Schuessler.   He also served on the staff of Skylook, as Editor in Chief of the  MUFON UFO Journal and Editor or Co-editor of the annual MUFON International UFO Symposium Proceedings.  MUFON became the largest and best known organization in the world addressing the science of extraterrestrial-related phenomena and took up the mantle of NICAP as it was slowly dissembled by intelligence agency plants during the 1970's.

Walter Andrus, robust at 84,  was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1920 and graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1938 and the Central Technical Institute in Kansas City, MO in 1940.    He is also a graduate of the U. S. Navy Electronics Technician Program during World War II and taught in both technical schools. After the war he was employed by Mid-Continent Airlines as a station manager in Quincy, Illinois. Then from 1949 to 1975 he worked for Motorola, Inc. in successive capacities as Assistant Plant Manager, Manager of Quality Control and Operations Manager in their Quincy, Illinois facility.   In 1975, he transferred to the Seguin, Texas plant as a Production Manager.  After 34 years with Motorola, Walt retired in 1982 and devoted full time to the directorship of MUFON for the next 18 years.

Walt was a member of the Board of Directors of the joint USA-CIS Aerial Anomaly Federation. He was also on the Board of Directors for the influential UFO Research Coalition (URC), composed of Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS), Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), and Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), organized in 1994.  He has lectured all around the world and appeared on radio and television (including Oprah Winfrey and Larry King) too many times to list here.

Walt has been an amateur radio aficionado since 1939 and a licensed pilot since 1947. 

Published Books
MUFON 1985 Ufo Symposium Proceedings: The Burden of Proof (1985)
MUFON 1984 UFO Symposium Proceedings: Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a Public Forum (1984)
Ufo's - Canada, a Global Perspective: Proceedings (1982)

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