W. Lawrence Walker Jr.

A longtime leader in the newspaper industry, Larry served as publisher and chief executive officer of the San Antonio Express-News from 1990 to 2006, growing the paper into one of the most read and respected in the Hearst Newspapers portfolio and presciently building its online presence for the impending shift to digital readership. A former president of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association, Larry was the 2000 recipient of the Pat Taggart Award, the highest honor for newspaper executives in Texas.

Larry was born on October 19, 1941, in Milan, Georgia, to Walstein L. Walker and Mary Elizabeth Edwards Walker. He was raised in nearby Macon and attended Auburn University, where he walked on to the Tigers baseball team as a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher. After transferring to the University of Georgia, Larry graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting. On June 12, 1965, Larry married Caroline Roach of Atlanta, whom he had met on campus in Athens the previous year.

Larry began his accounting career with The Southern Company, an Atlanta-based public utility holding company, before moving to Coopers & Lybrand, an independent CPA firm. He then joined the Dewey & Almy Chemical Company, a division of W.R. Grace, as an Atlanta plant controller. In 1968, Larry and Caroline welcomed their son, Lawrence. Soon after, Larry was promoted and relocated the family to Massachusetts, where daughter Elizabeth was born in 1970.

Larry and Caroline’s gentle southern dispositions proved no match for the dreary New England winters, so Larry accepted a position as a financial executive with Knight Newspapers, Inc., beginning a newspaper career that would span nearly four decades. As was customary for his new industry, the first years would be itinerant. Larry patiently built a reputation as a savvy executive, first at his hometown paper, the Macon Telegraph & News, followed by successful stints at the Milledgeville Union Recorder and the Gary Post Tribune in Indiana.

In 1981, Larry was named executive vice president and business manager of the San Francisco Newspaper Agency, a joint operation that published both the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner. The family would remain on the west coast until moving to San Antonio in 1990.

Larry and Caroline took quickly to San Antonio and made friends throughout the city. They became members of the San Antonio Country Club, Club Giraud and the Argyle, and joined the welcoming congregation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. In his free time, Larry, like Caroline, dedicated countless hours to local non-profits and civic entities in the city he happily called home.

He served as chairman or chair-elect of the boards of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center, the McNay Art Museum, the United Way of San Antonio, the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame and the San Antonio Symphony. He was a director of the University of the Incarnate Word & China Incarnate Word, San Antonio Medical Foundation, San Antonio Sports Foundation, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center, South Texas Blood & Tissue Center Foundation and Compass Bank, among many others.

Larry loved traveling the world with Caroline and was a passionate hunter and angler, particularly on the Texas coast, where he and Caroline built a second home. He was an avid skier for much of his life, taking his kids first to small, snowy hills in the Midwest and then on weekend trips to Tahoe once the family moved to California. After moving to San Antonio, he and Caroline kept a ski condo in Telluride. They spent many a happy week there with friends, family and, of course, a brace of beloved Labrador retrievers. The recent arrival of their Brussels griffon, Duke, proved that Larry’s love for dogs extended to small breeds, too.

He was especially fond of his Harley Davidson motorcycles, which he rode all over North America. He took epic annual motorcycle trips with a cadre of friends calling themselves “Los Compadres,” who combined their loves of motorcycles and community service by launching For the Love of Kids and Harleys, an annual event that has raised more than $3 million for local charities serving children in Bexar and Comal counties.

Larry is survived by his wife of 56 years, Caroline, son Lawrence Walker, daughter Elizabeth (Clay) Carrington, brother Wayne (Elise) Walker, grandchildren Walker Carrington, Sloan Carrington, Lawson Walker and Riley Walker, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

A private service will be held on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, at the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, after which the family will be receiving at home from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 pm.