Stuart H. Walker
# Stuart H. Walker

Stuart Hodge Walker (April 19, 1923 – November 12, 2018) was an American Olympic yachtsman, writer, and a professor of pediatrics. He competed as a sailor at the Olympic Games; won many national and international championships in different classes and wrote over ten books.

## Biography

Born in 1923 in Brooklyn, New York, Walker attended school in suburban Hartsdale and Bronxville, college at Middlebury College, and medical school at New York University. He was married to Frances (née Taylor) from 1944 until her death on September 30, 2012. They have two daughters Susan (1946) and Lee (1950). Walker was assigned in 1946 as a medical officer to the Army of Occupation of Japan ( United States Army 11th Airborne Division (Paratroops)). After reassignment from the army, he started a pediatric practice in Annapolis in 1953. Stuart became a full-time Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1961 and was Chief of Pediatrics at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore until his retirement in 1984. After Frances' death, Stuart married Patricia (née Empey) in 2013.

Sailing in the International 14 class, Walker was a member of every American team in international matches between 1961 and 1971 and was, in 1963, the first American to win Bermuda's Princess Elizabeth Trophy and, in 1964, England's Prince of Wales Cup. He was a member of the American Olympic Team, sailing a 5.5 Meter at the 1968 Games and the Pan-American Games, and a Soling in the 1979 Pan-American Games and the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games.

Walker authored ten books on sailboat racing, sail trim, competitive behavior, and low level wind flow, and was a lecturer and contributor to sailing magazines. He helped found the Severn Sailing Association. He published his 11th book, "Travels with Thermopylae", in 2015, which describes a year of sailing and discovery in central Europe.

Walker was President of the International Soling Class from 1991 through 1994 . In this role he successfully campaigned to keep the Soling in the 1996 Olympics and to continue the fleet/match format. He also established a Technical Committee that included the major builders and which has been successful in openly recognizing and solving problems before they become significant. He travelled on a yearly basis to Europe to compete in Soling regattas.

## Retirement

After finishing fifth at the eighth race of the 2016 European Championship Soling at Traunsee, Austria and leading the fleet to the weather mark in the ninth and last race, Walker announced his retirement from sailing on May 23, 2016, due to macular degeneration. With his retirement, he completed a period of 47 years of Soling sailing. After his retirement, Stuart continued sailing local races at the Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis. He died on November 12, 2018, in Annapolis from stomach cancer at the age of 95.

## Palmarès

### Honours

    Sailing World Hall of Fame:Member 1982 – selected as one of the world’s twenty outstanding yachtsmen.
    Stuart was inducted into the United States National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2013.

### 1968 Olympics

    8th U.S. Olympic Team – 5.5 Meter.
    Team Meteorologist

### Vintage Yachting Games

    5th 2012 Italy – Soling.

### 1979 Pan American Games

    Gold 1979 U.S. Pan-American Team – Soling.

### European Championship Soling

    2nd 2011 Austria.

### National Championships in Soling

    Winner 1973 Switzerland
    Winner 1983 Switzerland
    Winner 1987 Switzerland
    Winner 1988 Austria
    Winner 1988 Hungary
    Winner 2003 United States
    Winner 2003 Netherlands
    Winner 2007 Scotland

### International 14

    Member U.S. International Teams 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969 and 1971
    Winner 1961 Princess Elizabeth Trophy (1st American ever) – Bermuda
    Winner 1962 Buzzard's Bay Bowl
    Winner 1964 Prince of Wales Cup (1st American ever) – Lowestoft, United Kingdom
    Winner 1966 Yachting Magazine's One-of-a-Kind Regatta

### Soling

    Winner 1973 Great Lakes Championship
    Winner 1973 Maritime Provinces Championship
    Winner 1974 Atlantic Coast Championship
    Winner 1982 Australian Gold Cup Australia
    Winner 1984 Erich Hirt Trophy Germany
    Winner 1984 Jungfrau Trophy Switzerland
    Winner 1985 Jungfrau Trophy Switzerland
    Winner 1988 European Lakes Cup
    Winner 1992 Erich Hirt Trophy Germany

### Ice Bowl (Annapolis)

    Winner 1955–2011 – (32 times out of 58)
