His father was George Herbert Walker, a wealthy American businessman.

He became a member of the Skull and Bones society at Yale in 1927, as were his brother-in-law Prescott Bush (S&B 1917); brothers Dr. John Mercer Walker Sr. (S&B 1931) and Louis Walker (S&B 1936); and his nephew, the 41st President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush (S&B 1947); and Bush's son (therefore George's great-nephew), the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush (S&B 1968).

[1] Walker was an original owner of the New York Mets, a team which he co-founded in 1960 (and began play in 1962) with Joan Whitney Payson.

They had three children, one of whom was George Herbert Walker III, the former United States Ambassador to Hungary.

His nephew George H. W. Bush, served as the 41st President of the United States.