ALEXANDER WALKER banker, was born in
the parish of Rafford, Morayshire, Scotland, June 25, 1852. His father,
James Walker, was a farmer; his mother ‘s maiden name was Helen Smith. He
was educated in the Parish School of Rafford and served his apprenticeship
as a stone cutter in the town of Forres. In 1871, Mr. Walker came to the
United States, following his trade as journeyman stone cutter and
attending evening high school for several sessions, and then became a
contractor in the stone business under the firm name of Gillie & Walker,
in which concern he continued for several years. He afterward engaged in
real estate and building as Walker & Lawson, and in recent years has been
interested in real estate under the name of Alexander Walker.
Mr. Walker was one of the organizers
of the Colonial Bank, New York City, in 1902, and has been its President
since 1905. This was the first bank in the city to take advantage of the
law permitting state banks to have branches. The Colonial Bank now
operates seven branch banks and has had a most successful business career.
Mr. Walker is also a director in the Greenwich Bank and a trustee of the
Harlem Savings Bank, and associated with various other business
enterprises. His rise to this high position in the financial world is due
not alone to his far-sighted ability but is an illustration of what
honesty, tact and perseverance is able to accomplish.
Mr. Walker is a member of a number
of social and business organizations. He is a life member and a member of
the Board of Managers of the St. Andrew’s Society of the State of New
York, a life member of the New York Historical Society and of the American
Museum of Natural History, ex-President of the General Society of
Mechanics and Tradesmen, and a member of the New York Scottish Society,
New York Chamber of Commerce and West End Association. He also takes a
deep interest in the Caledonian Hospital, to which he contributed
liberally.
Mr. Walker married in New York City,
December 6, 1878, Miss Annie Cameron, of Nairn, Scotland. The issue was
Annie Henrietta Walker and Alexander Cameron Walker. Some years after her
decease, on April 15, 1891, he married in New York City, Miss Margaret
Helen Farquharson, of Edinburgh, Scotland, who bore him two children,
James F. Walker and William F. Walker.
Mr. Walker is of a most friendly and
genial nature, loyal to the land of his adoption and intensely fond of his
native country and everything that pertains to it. He visits Scotland with
his family every second year and has motored through the principal parts
of Great Britain and the Continent of Europe. Mr. Walker’s home address is
414 Riverside Drive; his business address, Columbus Avenue & 81st Street,
New York City..