He started as a substitute postal clerk earning 65 cents an hour in 1941. With the exception of two years spent in the Army during World War II, Mr. Walker was on the job with the Postal Service for 40 years.
As postmaster of Boston from 1970 to 1974, Mr. Walker oversaw major changes in protocol and labor negotiations after Congress turned the Postal Service into an independent agency under the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970.
Mr. Walker, a dapper man whose family said his only vice was perhaps his love of new suits, appeared at numerous public events, stoking a new image of postal employees.
He unveiled new stamps and led the Boston Postal District when it handled more than 6.4 billion pieces of mail annually, up from 1.5 billion in the 1950s, according to records.
“He was very even-keeled,’’ his son David said. “One of his former employees said his interpersonal skills were fabulous. He just knew how to handle every person, no matter what the situation.’’
In the months leading up to approval of the Postal Reorganization Act and President Nixon’s signing of the bill, Mr. Walker made clear where he stood.
He supported changes the act would bring, saying they would boost the morale of workers, and he had a sharp eye on the future.
“We need computers, intricate distributing machinery, and plants, not the old hand-sorting systems to handle the mail,’’ he told the Globe in 1970, a few months before Nixon signed the bill. “And we don’t have it.’’
Mr. Walker was also devoted to the American Legion. A member and commander of Watertown Post 99, he was elected state commander in 1959. He later became vice commander of the national organization.
