He was the youngest son of David Davis Walker, a dry goods merchant from Bloomington, Illinois, and Martha Adela (Beaky).

Ely, Walker & Company, which grew into a leading regional wholesaler, was later acquired by Burlington Industries.

[citation needed] Walker, who was Roman Catholic, was educated at Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit boarding school in England.

[4] His family had developed many international banking contacts, and he helped organize the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

The firm's London branch continued operating under its historic name Brown, Shipley & Co. Walker was a director of the W.A.

[5] He also coheaded the syndicate, (with W. Averell Harriman), which rebuilt the famed sports venue of Madison Square Garden and the Belmont Race Track, 1925.

[6] In the 1930s Walker purchased the 10,000-acre (40 km2) Duncannon Plantation near Barnwell, South Carolina, as a private hunting retreat.