Jerry Walker, 72, Former O’Dwyer Publications Editor

This is a obit reprinted from www.OdwyerPR.com and Mr. Walker was a good friend of many include this author and MAYO Communications for many years.

Jerry Walker, 72, senior editor of O’Dwyer’s for 18 years, died instantly July 19 at his home in Bluffton, S.C., after a heart attack. He retired in 2005.

Walker, who had lived in New Jersey, enjoyed retirement and the warm year-round southern weather. He kept busy playing softball and working two nights a-week at a Publix supermarket for pocket money and a chance to meet other people.

Jerry Walker, top left,
with O’Dwyer staff in a file photo.

An “NBC Nightly News” crew covered one of Walker’s games in a segment on how Baby Boomers are spending their retirement years. A producer approached Walker for an interview, but changed her mind after he told her his age.

A reporter from the Island Packet suggested that Walker apply for a job there, but he said he was done with “newspapering.”

Walker recently attended the 50th class reunion at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala. and planned to visit his youngest daughter, Betsy, in Oregon next month.

Before joining O’Dwyer’s, he was a reporter and managing editor at Editor & Publisher for 19 years.

Walker served as an investigative reporter and media editor of O’Dwyer’s, conducting a monthly media advice column in O’Dwyer’s PR Report magazine.

He was responsible for many major stories over the years including the discovery in voluminous reports on the Iran/Contra scandal that five PR people had spent a day with Treasury Secretary and head of the Central Intelligence Agency Bill Casey, giving Casey advice on how to raise funds for supporting the Contras, a revolutionary group in Nicaragua.

Walker monitored dozens of news media daily in search of stories with PR angles.

His father, Jerry Walker Sr., was editor of E&P for many years.

After graduating from Spring Hill, a Jesuit school, he served more than four years in the U.S. Army, rising to lieutenant. One of his postings was in Germany, where he was chauffeured by Elvis Presley.

After leaving the service, he started his journalism career with the New Rochelle Standard Star.

Walker’s summarized his approach to journalism by reciting the Army battle cry: “Hi diddle diddle, up the middle.”

“He had a keen eye for unusual angles on a story and an instinct for going for the jugular,” said Jack O’Dwyer.

“Journalism lost one of its most enthusiastic practitioners when he retired,” said O’Dwyer.

Survivors include his wife, Sarah, and six children – Mark, Mary Virginia McCabe, Jeri Ann Bourke, Cynthia, Timothy and Betsy.