Editing Card Walker (section)

==Career with Disney==
Two years after [[Walt Disney]]'s death in 1966, Walker became executive vice president and chief operating officer. When Walt's brother [[Roy O. Disney]] died in 1971, Walker became company president, serving under chairman and CEO [[Donn Tatum]]. In November 1976 Walker took over chief executive officer duties from Tatum while retaining the responsibilities of president. In 1977 Walker was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Florida Institute of Technology. Finally, in 1980 Walker became chairman of the Disney board upon Tatum's retirement. Walker himself retired as CEO three years later, in February 1983, but stayed on as chairman until August 1984 to oversee the opening of [[Tokyo Disneyland]] in [[Japan]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Disney War |last=Stewart |first=James B. |year=2005 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=49}}</ref>

As a top Disney executive, Walker played a major part in the early development of [[Walt Disney World]] in [[Florida]]. He also sought to expand Disney's presence to international territory. [[EPCOT]] and Tokyo Disneyland both opened under Walker's leadership, and he presided over the dedications of both parks.  Walker approved the creation of the Disney Channel in 1982.

Walker continued to serve as a consultant to the company until 1990 and was member of the board of directors until 2000, having served 40 continuous years on the Disney board. His contributions culminated in his induction into the [[Disney Legends]] in 1993.<ref name="Broggie">{{cite book |last=Broggie |first=Michael |title=Walt Disney's Railroad Story |publisher=Carolwood Pacific LLC p. 408 |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-9758-5842-4}}</ref>