Democrat Activist Lloyd Walker Dies

Lloyd Walker, twice a contender for governor and a longtime, often controversial Democratic activist, died Monday after suffering a heart attack. He was 72.

A native Idahoan born in Hailey, Walker served as state Democratic chairman from 1962-1965.

He was a member of the Credentials Committee in 1964 that voted to seat the integrated Mississippi delegation to the national Democratic presidential nominating convention in Atlantic City, N.J. That convention nominated President Lyndon Johnson.

Walker ran for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1996, failing to make the slate at the party convention, and then made a second unsuccessful try for the state’s highest office in 1970.

He is survived by four children and five grandchildren and his former wife, Mary Walker. Funeral arrangements are pending.