Larry Walker Jr., the longtime majority leader for the Georgia House of Representatives, died Tuesday.
He was 84.
Houston County coroner James Williams confirmed Walker’s death. He said Wednesday that Walker died at his home, surrounded by his family and under hospice care.
Walker, a Houston County Democrat, served as majority leader from 1986 to 2004. He is the father of current Georgia Senate President Pro Tem Larry Walker III.
Walker graduated from the University of Georgia Law School in 1965 and began a career as an attorney, according to the Houston County Bar Association. He became a municipal court judge in Perry at 23.
In 1972 he won election to the state House of Representatives, taking the seat formerly held by Sam Nunn when Nunn was elected to the U.S. Senate. Walker later became the House floor leader for then-Gov. Joe Frank Harris.
On Wednesday, Nunn said he had lost a “a close and cherished friend.”
“Larry made an indelible imprint on our state, and he was an example to us all in terms of his integrity, his character, his faith, and his love for his family,” Nunn said.
Walker rose to House majority leader at a time when Democrats controlled the General Assembly. He considered running for governor in 1990 but ultimately ruled it out.
Former Rep. Calvin Smyre, a Columbus Democrat, said Walker was a good man, an outstanding orator and a “tremendous legislator.”
Smyre spent nearly 50 years in the House and credits Walker for helping boost his career. When Walker became Harris’ floor leader, he recommended Smyre as his assistant. And when Walker became majority leader, his recommendation allowed Smyre to become the chamber’s first Black floor leader.
“From a legislative perspective, they don’t come any better than Larry Walker,” Smyre said. “He was one of the best and one of the brightest I served with.”
Former Democratic state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver also remembered Walker as a gifted politician and leader. Like Smyre, she credits him for helping her build her career.
“He was very gifted and I respected his leadership and the amount of intelligence and strategy he offered to all of us in leading the House as majority leader,” Oliver said.
As majority leader, Walker was the right-hand man to House Speaker Tom Murphy. Murphy lost his House seat to a Republican in 2002, and Walker sought to replace him as speaker the following year. But Democrats chose Rep. Terry Coleman instead.
In February 2004, he announced he would not seek reelection.
“I just think it’s time to quit,” Walker said at the time. “I’ve been in (the House) 32 years, and I want to go out when I’m on top. I’ve seen people who stayed too long, and I don’t want to be one of those.”
Walker later represented Georgia’s 8th Congressional District on the Georgia Department of Transportation and was appointed by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue to the University System of Georgia Board of Regents as an at-large member.
During his tenure as majority leader, Walker worked with Democratic governors Harris, Zell Miller and Roy Barnes. But he also saw the state transition to Republican control. Walker’s friend Sonny Perdue switched parties to become Georgia’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
Walker’s son, the Senate president pro tem, is a Republican. But in 2008 Walker told an interviewer for an oral history project that he never considered switching parties.
“I respect what (Perdue) did. Obviously, he made the right choice if he wanted to be governor,” Walker said. “But I never considered doing that. I was of the school that I’d rather quit than change, and that’s what I did. I’d been on that team a long time.”
Staff writers Sophia Eppley and Caleb Groves contributed to this story.
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