John M. Walker

John Mercer Walker, Sr.
Nationality	American
Education	Yale University, 1931; Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1936
Occupation	Major, United States Army, World War II Investment Banker, G. H. Walker & Co., Alex. Brown & Sons
Medical career
Profession	Clinical assistant in surgery, 1952-1965, Hospital president 1965-1974
Institutions	Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center

Major, United States Army, World War II

Dr. John Mercer Walker, Sr. (January 15, 1909 – August 16, 1990) was an American physician and investment banker. A member of the prominent Bush-Walker family, he was a maternal uncle of US President George H.W. Bush.

Walker was the fifth of six children of banker and businessman George Herbert Walker and his wife Lucretia Wear, daughter of James H. Wear. (Dr. Walker's older sister Dorothy married President Bush's father Senator Prescott Bush.) Walker attended The Hill School and later Yale University, where he lettered in football, baseball and squash, was a member of Skull and Bones, and graduated in 1931. In 1936, Walker graduated from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and went on to his residency at Roosevelt Hospital.

In 1939, he married Elsie Louise Mead, daughter of George Houk Mead, president of the Mead Corporation. They had three sons and four daughters. One daughter died of polio in 1955 and two daughters were born with Down syndrome.

During World War II he served as a major in the US Army in Europe. Walker had a private practice until he was diagnosed with polio in 1950. A skilled athlete and golfer, he would eventually need a wheelchair. In 1952, he joined Memorial Hospital (now part of Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center) as a clinical assistant in surgery and remained with the institution for 25 years, serving as president from 1965 to 1974.

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