Jim Russell Walker, founding chairman of Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia and former finance editor of the South China Morning Post, died yesterday in Australia after a short battle with cancer.
He was 55.
Scottish by birth but raised in Australia, Walker arrived in Hong Kong in 1978 to take charge of finance reporting at the South China Morning Post after an eight-year career with News Limited.
Walker left an indelible mark as a Hong Kong financial journalist, combining insight with a knack for sniffing out stories.
In 1979, he chronicled Li Ka-shing's first steps toward Superman status, breaking the story of Cheung Kong's upstart acquisition of a 22 per cent stake in Hutchison Whampoa from Hongkong & Shanghai Bank.
Walker left the Post in 1983 to join Hong Leong Securities, and later to set up Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia (CLSA).
An aficionado of sport and racing, he was a keen field hockey player and an even keener punter at Happy Valley.