Ken Walker loved horses so much that in the late 1970s, he bought an old 5-acre dairy farm in Cerritos to be close to them. After many years, officials at a church sought to buy the valuable land. He sold it to them for $1, placing the community’s needs above his own.
To this day, the church still stands.
Ken passed away on Jan. 19 at the age of 97.
A Life of Kindness and Labor
Ken Walker was born in Long Beach in 1927 at Seaside Hospital, now Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. His work ethic started early when his grandfather, CJ Walker, asked him to work as an elevator operator at F&M’s Long Beach headquarters at age eleven.
Walker followed in his father’s footsteps in 1946, studying economics and finance at the University of Southern California, where he met Nancy MacMillan. They were married in 1948 and stayed together for 60 years until she passed away in 2008. They were a great team who raised six children.
Ken returned to F&M as a teller in 1948 and worked in almost every conceivable banking capacity. He succeeded his father, Gus Walker, as president in 1979.
Doing What Was Best for Customers
Ken was an entrepreneurial banker who understood character first and foremost. He knew where to take risks and how to do things quickly. Ken would meld F&M’s foundational elements of honesty and integrity with his unique vision.
Ken led F&M through continued growth in Southern California. After seeing many residents of Long Beach migrate to Orange County, he opened new offices in cities like Lake Forest, Fullerton, and Santa Ana.
He was a keen judge of character. In addition to being a banker, Ken could fly a plane, drive a bulldozer, break a colt, and throw a calf on its side. He was also involved in several other entrepreneurial activities.
Saving Polo in Santa Barbara
Devout Christians Ken and Nancy Walker were members of the First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton for many years. Their faith was woven into everything they did.
Ken nurtured the bank’s longstanding support for nonprofits. Being a good bank meant giving back to the community, and he financed every church in Long Beach. He helped develop Long Beach Memorial Medical Center by loaning the hospital $4 million to buy the land on which the current medical campus is located.
Ken and Nancy were also instrumental in the rebirth of the Christian movement through the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). In the 1980s, they directed the bank to forgive nearly $500,000 in debt owed by the Long Beach YMCA.
The Walker family purchased Helena Modjeska’s residence in 1923, the home of the famous Shakespearean performer who had immigrated to the US.
After 63 years of long-term preservation by the Walker family, Ken facilitated the transfer of the historic Modjeska House and the surrounding wooded area to the County of Orange in 1986 to establish a park for public enjoyment.
In 1953, Ken began playing polo at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club in Carpinteria, where he would occasionally ferry his family up the coast from Long Beach in his 83-foot AVR boat.
In 1976, Ken, along with the assistance of two other club members, rescued the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club from financial disaster by finishing a failed condo development and purchasing parcels of contiguous land for stabling and a tennis club.
By 1979, the Walker family deeded all land and all improvements back to the Club at no benefit to themselves. Today, the club is heralded as one of the most viable polo clubs in the western United States.
A Banker Making a Difference
When interviewed in 2008 about seeing his sons rise to executive-level roles at the bank, Ken said, “F&M has long been a Walker family tradition, and seeing my children and grandchildren rise to the helm of these organizations, bringing with them a new level of business expertise, is fulfilling on many levels for me. This is more than just a business for our family; it is part of our family culture, and we take its success personally.”
Ken used his banking expertise to make a difference in people’s lives. Everyone who knows him has a good Ken Walker story. He was a good banker, but he was an even better man.
