A memorial service for Richard L. Walker, USC’s noted scholar on the politics and cultures of East Asia and the Pacific and former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, will be held at 2 p.m. July 27 at Trinity Cathedral Church, 1100 Sumter St., Columbia.
Walker, the University’s James F. Byrnes Professor Emeritus who established and built USC’s international studies program over a period of 46 years, died July 22 from cancer.
“Richard Walker dedicated a great portion of his life to USC, and for that, we are eternally grateful,” said President Sorensen. “On behalf of the entire University family, we extend our condolences to his family and his associates.”
Walker came to USC in 1957 from Yale University where he received his master’s and doctoral degrees and served on the faculty. He founded the USC Institute of International Studies in 1961. It grew into a premier international research center and was renamed in his honor in 1996.
Walker received his bachelor’s degree from Drew University and studied Chinese languages at the University of Pennsylvania. He served as an interpreter with Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters in the Pacific during World War II.
He was the author of 17 books and frequently lectured at international conferences. He was named by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 as U.S. ambassador to South Korea, a position he held for five years.
Walker is survived by son Geoffrey Kenly Walker, daughter Anne Walker Cleveland, eight grandchildren, and a great-grandson. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be sent to the Ceny Walker Fellowship Endowment honoring Walker’s late wife, Celeno Kenly Walker, c/o the USC Educational Foundation, Columbia, SC 29208.
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