Everitt Donald Walker, Sr. was the chancellor of the University of Texas System from 1978 to 1984.

He met his future wife, Kathryn Keneaster, while they were both students at Sam Houston State Teachers College in the early 1940s.The Walker Education Center was built with contributions from son, E. Don Walker Jr., a 1998 SHSU Service Award Recipient, and the Meadows Foundation of Dallas.