Death
On 17 August 2000, Walker died from cancer aged 71. Jack Straw, the Home Secretary and Blackburn's Labour MP, said:
"Jack Walker did more than any other individual in the last century to enhance the self-confidence and the prosperity of his home town. He was completely committed to the town and its people. Blackburn Rovers was in many ways the love of his life. His contribution to the club was enormous but that was based in turn on the prosperity he created through his astonishing development of Walker Steel and of many other investments in the area. I salute a great local hero and shall miss him very badly."
Before his death, Walker had put in place a family trust structure to own his various business interests, including the club.
In November 2004 the Jack Walker Memorial garden was unveiled at the Blackburn End of Ewood Park. Standing in the middle is the Jack Walker Memorial Statue. A road close to Ewood Park was named "Jack Walker Way" in his honour.
Read more about this topic: Jack Walker
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Every American, to the last man, lays claim to a sense of humor and guards it as his most significant spiritual trait, yet rejects humor as a contaminating element wherever found. America is a nation of comics and comedians; nevertheless, humor has no stature and is accepted only after the death of the perpetrator.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)
“How I envy you death;
what could death bring,
more black, more set with sparks
to slay, to affright,
than the memory of those first violets.”
—Hilda Doolittle (18861961)