Walter Lee Mingledorff, Jr. was born in 1915 in Savannah, Georgia. He graduated from Savannah High School in 1932 and later attended Georgia Tech where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1936. After graduation, Mingledorff was employed by Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company in West Allis, Wisconsin from 1936 to 1937 and then returned to Savannah. He worked for the Savannah Machine and Foundry Company and was the vice president and the general manager of their shipbuilding division until 1948. In 1948, Mingledorff formed his own business, Mindgledorff's Inc., which distributed air conditioner equipment. With the encouragement of many Savannah citizens concerned with the city's financial troubles, Mingledorff ran for mayor in 1954. He served until 1960, when he resigned to run for chairman of the Chatham County Commission, a race he lost. Under his service as mayor, the city's financial situation improved and a council-manager form of government was established. Mingledorff's administration also formed the Metropolitan Planning Commission, the Urban Renewal Program, the Historic Savannah Foundation, and had Armstrong Junior College accredited as a four year university. Following his term as mayor, Mingledorff was active with the Savannah Electric and Power Company, the Chatham County Board of Education, the Savannah Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers, and the Savannah Rotary Club. He retired from public life in 1965 and moved to Sylvania, Georgia, where he died in 1985 at the age of seventy.
From the description of Walter Lee Mingledorff, Jr. papers, 1958-1959. (Georgia Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 312683822
