Jerry Walker outside the Tribeca restaurant he co-opened in 1987. Photo courtesy of the Walker family
Jerry Walker, co-owner of the nearly four-decades-old Tribeca restaurant Walker’s, died on Dec. 9 in Norwalk, CT. He was 76.
Before opening his eponymous Tribeca restaurant in 1987, Walker made his first foray downtown in 1984 as the co-owner of the landmark Ear Inn on Spring Street. He co-owned both establishments with partner Martin Sheridan.
A graduate of Providence College with a B.A. in history, Walker began his restaurant career as the general manager of a popular New Haven, CT., restaurant. In Tribeca, he turned what has been described as a “shot-and-beer” local bar at the corner of North Moore and Varick streets into the three-room restaurant that it is today.
“From the moment the restaurant opened its doors in 1987, he believed Walker’s should be a place of warmth and belonging,” the restaurant posted on Instagram. “He valued community over trends, conversation over spectacle, and hospitality above all else.”
Walker’s was among the founding restaurants in 1994 of Taste of Tribeca, a fundraiser for local schools, and each year the restaurant’s barbecue sandwiches drew some of the longest lines at the event.
Many recalled Walker fondly at a celebration of his life held recently at the restaurant. He was “a gem of a human,” an attendee wrote in the memory book, “who created a space that everyone felt welcomed and cared for.”
Walker is survived by his daughters Sarah, Caitlin and Megan Walker.