Calvin O. Walters Jr.; Former Tejon Ranch Executive

Calvin O. Walters Jr., a Southern California business executive who served as president and chief executive officer of the Tejon Ranch Co. from 1977 to 1986, has died. He was 57.

Walters died Friday at his home in Mendocino of kidney cancer.

Tejon Ranch, a corporation partly owned by Times Mirror Co., comprises about 270,000 acres in the Tehachapi Mountains and has operations in cattle, farming, mineral production, timber and real estate development.

A native of Savannah, Ga., Walters moved to California in 1972 to become chief executive officer and chairman of the board of San Martin Winery of Santa Clara and Monterey counties.

After his work for Tejon Ranch, Walters joined Specialty Laboratories, a medical diagnostic and research laboratory in Santa Monica, as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

He was a founding director of the Governor’s Economic Development Corp. and a former director of the California State Chamber of Commerce.

In Georgia, Walters began his career as a research chemist with Savannah Foods & Industries and later ran company sugar plants. In 1968 he moved to New Orleans as president and chief executive officer of Southdown Lands Inc., overseeing sugar cane farming and processing, rice farming and irrigation canal operations.

Walters is survived by his wife, the former Christy Campbell; three daughters, Ashley, of Mendocino, Helen of Orange, Conn., and Catherine of San Jose; a son, Calvin III, of Minneapolis; a brother, Lindsey, of Atlanta; four sisters, Marilyn Lee, Louise James and Debbie Hanson, all of Savannah, and Virginia Gardner of Jacksonville, Fla.; and four grandchildren.

Los Angeles services are scheduled for 3 p.m. Dec. 2 at Brentwood Presbyterian Church, 12000 San Vicente Blvd.

The family has requested that any memorial donations be made to the Mendocino Coast Hospital Foundation or the Mendocino Coast Hospital Hospice Program in Ft. Bragg, Calif., or to Hoag Memorial Hospital Foundation for the Cancer Center, 4000 Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Beach 92663.