Xavier HS athletic director Gerard Walker, Jr., 
passes away at age 59 after battling cancer 

Xavier athletic director Gerard Walker, Jr., known to friends and family as “Rod,” died at his home in Belle Harbor on Tuesday after battling cancer. He was 59.

Walker worked as a health care administrator for most of his career before taking over as the Xavier freshman football coach in 2004. A year later he took over as the junior varsity coach and the school’s athletic director.

Born in Brooklyn, Walker went to high school at Brooklyn Prep before attending Fordham University.

Announcing Walker’s death on the school website, he was quoted as once saying, “Thank God for my time at Xavier; the boys, their families, the coaches, faculty and staff were just the best people I ever met.”

Walker is survived by his wife, Joan; three children from his first marriage, Kristen, Lindsay and Matthew; his father, Gerard, Sr.; his sister Mary Grace Savage and a host of family and friends.

"He was a great guy, very easy to work with," said former Regis soccer coach Vinny Catapano, who often worked with Walker in his role as a CHSAA league chairman. "He was friendly, outgoing. He always went above and beyond what was asked of him. He touched a lot of people with the work he did. Anytime you lose someone in the CHSAA community it's always a great loss. He was just a very well-liked guy in the league by everyone."  

A wake will be held on Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. and on Thursday from 2-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at the Denis S. O’Connor Funeral Home, 9105 Beach Channel Drive in Rockaway Beach.

A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday at the St. Francis Xavier Church, 46 West 16th Street in Manhattan.