Marjorie Henderson Walker, who helped build Walker's Shortbread into a global specialty food brand, died peacefully on Oct. 22 in Aberlour, Strathspey, Scotland, at age 83, the company said.
Walker, the granddaughter of company founder Joseph Walker, joined the family company in 1962 and became a full partner with her brothers, James and Joseph. She was one of the three founding directors when Walker's Shortbread became a limited company (Walker's Shortbread Ltd.) in 1980. She retired in 2002.
During her time with the business, it grew from a single bakery employing 20 people into an international business employing more than 1,000 people, the company said.
Steve Dawson, who was CEO of Walker's U.S. division from 2007 to 2015, said that although Marjorie Henderson Walker had retired from the company by the time he began working there, her reputation as a key pillar in the growth of the company was widely recognized.
“I do remember James Walker describing Marjorie as the glue that held Walker's together,” he told SFA News Daily. “She managed all the administration for Walker's as it grew in the '70s through the '90s, while James ran sales and Joseph ran manufacturing.”
By the 1970s, this third generation of company ownership had begun exporting Walker's Shortbread to more than 60 countries around the world, all baked according to the founder's original recipe using only flour, pure creamery butter, sugar, and salt. Walker's Shortbread also began expanding its product line to include items such as Chocolate Chip Shortbread and specialty biscuits.
Nicky Walker, a fourth-generation member of the Walker family and the son of Marjorie's late brother, Joe, was named managing director of Walker's Shortbread last year.
During her time at the company, Marjorie early on oversaw finances and later was named company secretary. She also managed Walker's five retail bakery shops, which “thrived under her management,” the company said.
She was known as a “people person” who was popular with staff and managed customer relationships well, the company said.
Marjorie Henderson Walker was born in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands, and had a lifelong love of nature and animals, especially horses and dogs, the company said. She eventually bought a farm, which her son, David, continues to operate.
In addition to David, she is survived by her daughter-in-law Beverley, grandson Josh, and great-grandchildren Evie and Jack. She was preceded in death by one grandson, Brodie, who died in 2018 at age 23.
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