Joseph James Walker PhD

Dr. Joseph James Walker passed away on January 3, 2026. The son of the late James Mason Walker and Mary Jane Sears Walker, Joe was born in Dayton, Ohio. The family moved to Arcadia, CA, where he grew up. He attended Arcadia Elementary/Jr. - Sr. High School, where he was a National Merit Scholarship recipient, and senior class Salutatorian from high school.

After high school, Joe attended Pomona College in Pomona, CA., where he earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Statistics. He then continued his education at UNC Chapel Hill, NC, where he earned both his Masters and Doctorate in Statistics.

He proudly served his country during the Vietnam War Era in the Army. He loved his American flag and made sure to display it for every patriotic occasion, carefully hoisting it up, saluting it, and carefully taking it down. This became a tradition that he did with the children and his granddaughter.

He taught a year at SUNY Binghamton in NY, then moved to Georgia to accept a teaching position as a Professor at Georgia State University in the Math and Statistics Department. He was also the Academic Undergraduate Advisor for the math department. He loved teaching and touched the lives of many of his students, instilling a love of numbers in them and easing the fear of Statistics! While at GSU, he was approached by several publishing companies to do text book reviews and critiques. He took this job very seriously and gave honest reviews and editing. Joe retired from GSU after 31 years of teaching. He is now a Professor Emeritus.

Joe was a member of the American Statistical Association and served as Treasurer for a number of years. He was also a member of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Still a numbers guy, he loved doing Sudoku. He took the puzzles with him to work on wherever we had to sit and wait.

After the Army, he bought his first house in Stone Mountain, GA. He was handy with woodworking and built his own deck. He put it up with help from his GSU poker buddies. He was very proud of that deck. While teaching at GSU, he was introduced to Marilyn, who became his wife when they married in 1985. They were so excited to welcome their first child, a daughter, Stacey Jane, then three years later a son, Steven James. The family moved to Lilburn, GA in 1989 and have lived there ever since.

More than anything, Joe loved his family and was so proud of his children and grandchildren. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Marilyn R. Walker; daughter Stacey Jane Walker (Lilburn); son, Steven James Walker and his wonderful wife Allie (Atlanta); and grandchildren Aubriana "Aubrey" Walker; James "Jamie" Walker; and Eleanor Walker, coming into this world sometime in March; his brother, Mark Walker and his wife Eileen (CA); and niece Lisa Walker and her family.

A private inurnment will take place at a later date at Eternal Hills Memory Gardens in Snellville. In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a donation to either the Michael J. Fox Foundation or Parkinson's Foundation in Joe's memory. Both organizations do great work trying to find new medications to treat Parkinson's, as well as find a cure for Parkinson's Disease.