Thank you Daniel for this lovely summary of Bill's distinguished career.

Bill is remembered for his keen direction of the Brooklyn Museum Libraries especially for his vision towards development of our research collections as a resource for the public as well as for the Museum staff. While he was director of the Watson Library, he also worked with me and several colleagues on the formation of the Art Museum Libraries Consortium (AMLC). The AMLC's goal was to build and enrich the online library catalogs for the Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA which was successfully accomplished. He was a true visionary in forging a pathway for art museum libraries to be considered research centers for staff and public alike.

Bill will live on in our hearts and memories and in the collections he helped to develop during his long career. He was a a very gracious person who was generous of spirit and time to many and was a great pleasure to work with him both on a professional and personal basis.

Deirdre Lawrence
Brooklyn Museum

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From: ARLIS/NA List [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Daniel Starr [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2017 8:33 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ARLIS-L] Bill Walker

I’m sad to report that William Bond Walker died on February 22 at the age of 86 after a long illness. He was a founding member of ARLIS/NA and our third President. He was also the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award for 1991.

Bill began his career as Librarian-Trainee at the  Donnell Branch of the New York Public Library in 1955. He was Reference Librarian/Cataloger at the Metropolitan Museum Art from 1957-1959, Chief Librarian of the Brooklyn Museum’s Art Reference Library, 1959-1964, Supervisory Librarian at the National Collection of Fine Arts and National Portrait Gallery Library, Smithsonian Institution,1964-1980, and the  Arthur K. Watson Chief Librarian of Thomas J. Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum Art, 1980-1994. He retired in 1994.

He received his B.A. at the State University of Iowa in Iowa City in 1953 and his  M.L.S from Rutgers University in 1958. He was an avid painter and exhibited widely, including at the Art and Music Library of the University of Rochester and the Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, New York.

Bill is survived by his long-time partner John Balkema, Kimball Farms Lifecare Community, 235 Walker St, Lenox, MA 01240.

He will be remembered fondly by many whose life he touched, not only for his professional activities and sound advice, but also for his unfailing graciousness. The first words many of us heard from him early in our careers were, “Hello, my name is Bill Walker,” along with a big smile and a firm handshake.

Daniel Starr




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