Thomas B. Walker, Jr.

Thomas Bidwell Walker Jr., also known as Tommy Walker (December 23, 1923 – October 11, 2016), was an American investment banker, corporate director and philanthropist. A veteran of World War II, he started his career in investment banking in Tennessee and soon moved to Dallas, Texas. He became the main driving force behind the Dallas office of Goldman Sachs, where he "not only established Goldman Sachs' presence in the Southwest" but also "led the initial public offerings for many of the most important companies in Texas."

Walker was educated at the West End High School. From 1974 to 1984, he was the only Goldman Sachs partner outside New York City to serve on its management committee.

In 1999, Walker donated US$2 million to the Southwestern Medical Foundation to support macular degeneration and breast cancer research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. With his wife, he also donated to the Hutchinson School in Memphis.

Walker served on the board of trust of his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, from 1974 to 2003, some of which as chairman. With his wife, he endowed The Anne Marie and Thomas B. Walker Jr. Scholarship at the Vanderbilt University College of Arts and Science and The Anne Marie and Thomas B. Walker Jr. Chair in Finance and Accounting at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management. They also endowed Owen's Walker Management Library.

Personal life and death Walker married Anne Marie Newton in 1950. They had two sons, John Newton Walker and Tom Walker III. They resided in Dallas, Texas. His wife predeceased him in 2010.

Walker died of congestive heart failure on October 11, 2016, in Dallas, Texas. His funeral was held at the Highland Park Presbyterian Church on October 21, 2016.

On his death, Robert W. Decherd, the chairman and CEO of Belo, said Walker "not only established Goldman Sachs' presence in the Southwest, he led the initial public offerings for many of the most important companies in Texas."