Robert Searles Walker

Dr. Robert Searles Walker was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1930, and travelled widely in his first three to four years. Michigan, New York, Texas, and finally California - a cosmopolitan begining. His pre-college education includes well-known private schools such as Barton School in Topanga Canyon, and the Army & Navy Academy in Carlsbad, California as well as a host of public schools at various levels. At the collegiate level (through to the Ph.D.) he is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, and since conferment of that degree has taught as full or part-time faculty at the University of Michigan, UCLA, Oklahoma State University, retiring from Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas in 1990. He was Chairman of the Department of Political Science at Trinity for fifteen years. Dr. Walker's principal field is constitutional law and history, but his interests and publications range widely. His study of the English and American development of the Writ of Habeas Corpus has become a standard in the field, having been cited as authority by Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. It has been referred to repeatedly in cases invovling current disputes over U.S. detentions and habeas corpus at Guantanamo Bay prison. In addition he has published a major college text on the AIDS epidemic, a study of the repeal of State Constitutional Prohibition in Oklahoma in 1960, and, most recently, a book of poetry entitled "Like Mother, Like Son." Similarly, his interest in community affairs involve many areas of concern - for example, he was the founding president of the SouthWest PreLaw Association (SWAPLA) as well as a worker and, ultimately, Board Chairman of the San Antonio AIDS Foundation (SAAF). In 1990, he left active involvement to write "AIDS: Today, Tomorrow." In 1956 he and Joyce L. Peck were married and produced two beautiful daughters, Karen and Catherine, the latter of which has, in turn, giving birth to two beautiful grandchildren, Elise and Bob. They find their grandfather a bit grumpy, but loveable in spite of it.