09/17/2024
Walter W. "Walt" Lane, age 93, passed away on September 11, 2024, in Ocala, Florida. A tough, hardworking self-starter all his life, Walt began his entrepreneurship as a teenager, and as a very young man, served his country as a fighter pilot in the Korean War. He later became a successful businessman who ultimately founded his own corporation, Subsurface Electric, in California. It was not so well known that Walt, in fact, helped create the State of California's electrical codes.
Walt was perhaps best known as to friends and associates in the international Arabian horse world as an uncompromisingly tough, smart, knowledgeable horseman with a soft spot for a friend in need. With a keen eye for a beautiful, athletic horse, he established Esperanza Arabians in Riverside, California, in the mid 1970's and bred champion Arabians there for almost 50 years.
Walt was a member of the original *Padron Association, which introduced one of the world's most highly esteemed Arabian stallions to breeders in the United States, and he was later a member of the *Dakar El Jamaal Kartel, LLC. As might be expected, the Esperanza breeding program was heavily influenced by both of these national champion stallions.
Walt leaves behind two daughters, a son, a sister, and his wife, Jeannette King Lane. One child preceded him in death. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Walt's name to The National Alzheimer's Association at https://www.alz.org/
