Theodore J. Walker, 88; Biologist, Expert on California Gray Whale

Theodore J. Walker, 88, a former marine biologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, author and expert on the California gray whale, died Feb. 28 in Seattle of complications from a stroke.

Born in Great Falls, Mont., Walker earned a bachelor’s degree from Montana State University, a master’s degree in biology at the University of Oklahoma and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin.

As a Navy gunnery officer who saw action in the Pacific during World War II, Walker persuaded shipmates to weld a funnel to their destroyer’s hull, forcing seawater up to the deck so that he could study plankton. He joined Scripps in 1948 and published the book “Whale Primer” in 1962.

In 1971, Walker surprised his colleagues by abruptly resigning from Scripps and moving for seven months to the uninhabited Baranof Island in Alaska.

The experience evolved into his 1971 book “Red Salmon, Brown Bear” and an Oscar-nominated documentary film, “Alaskan Wilderness Lake.”

Returning to San Diego, Walker joined Natural History Consultants. He once testified before Congress: “If you want to save the whales, you leave them alone.”