James Baird Walker, PhD

James Baird Walker, 87, of Wilmington, Delaware passed away peacefully on Friday, December 4, 2020 with his wife of 60 years, Helen Carlton Walker, and youngest daughter by his side. The couple recently moved from Wilmington to Maris Grove Retirement Community in Glen Mills, PA in 2019. He was born in Mecklenberg, North Carolina on September 12, 1933, the youngest of five children. He is predeceased by his siblings and his son-in-law.

James (“Jim”) grew up in Washington, District of Columbia and Raleigh, North Carolina where he graduated as Valedictorian from Hugh Morson High School and then attended North Carolina State University. He graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and was a member of ROTC. Jim then served in the United States Air Force, designing bombs during the Korean War. He returned to N.C. State after the war to earn his master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and to teach. In 1959, he married Helen Hendrix Carlton and accepted a scholarship from Brown University to pursue his PhD in Applied Mathematics and to serve as a research assistant. Upon completing his PhD in 1965, Jim, his wife, and their two young daughters, Laura Ann and Carol Elaine, returned to Raleigh and N.C. State where he continued his teaching.

In 1967, Jim accepted a position as a research engineer in the plastics division of DuPont de Nemours Inc. and the family moved to Wilmington, DE. During his celebrated career at DuPont, Jim worked on numerous projects including the development of Lucite and the plastic used for disposable drinking bottles. He spent several years in the United States and in France working with partners in the fresh juice and wine industries helping to better extract sugar using membrane technology he invented.  While at DuPont, Jim earned the rare and high honor of being named Research Fellow. In 1991, Jim chose to take early retirement from DuPont to begin a second career as Chief Financial Officer and Mechanical Engineer of Designer Stencils—a design, manufacturing, and retail/wholesale company founded by his wife. His expertise enabled this family business to develop a sophisticated and customized cutting process and to serve thousands of retail and wholesale customers worldwide for over 40 years.

Jim was a quiet, kind, and honest man, known as a scholar and gentleman deeply devoted to his family. He carried in him a remarkable patience, a strength he fostered and shared with all whom he spent time. Most of all, Jim ardently listened. To learn, reflect, and love better, he consistently lent his ears and open heart to family, friends, and strangers alike. As a young man in the 1950s, Jim met in coalition with Black students and community members across Raleigh to foster relationships grounded in mutual understanding, working towards social equity through conversation and friendship. This work continued in Wilmington. He was a man of his word and spent a lifetime asking what he could do for someone else.

Jim is survived by his wife, Helen Carlton Walker; his oldest daughter, Laura Walker Deisley and her children, William Carlton Deisley and Caroline Mayer Deisley; his youngest daughter, Carol Walker Bova, her husband Michael Patrick Bova, and their children, Emily Rebecca Bova and Patrick Walker Bova.

For those who would like to remember his life and legacy, financial gifts or gifts of service may be directed to Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1502 West 13th Street, Wilmington, DE 19806, specifically to the Urban and World Mission Committees.