Editing Jimmy Walker (section)

==Later life and legacy==
Walker went on a grand tour of [[Europe]] with Compton, his [[Ziegfeld girl]].<ref name=Young /> He announced on November 12, 1932, while aboard the [[SS Conte Grande|SS ''Conte Grande'']], that he had "no desire or intention of ever holding public office again."<ref>United Press, "Walker Quits Political Life", ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Sunday 13 November 1932, Volume 39, page 2.</ref> Walker stayed in Europe until the danger of criminal prosecution appeared remote.<ref name=Jackson /> There, he married Compton while in [[Cannes, France]].<ref name="comptonmarriageanddivorce">{{cite news |title=Betty Compton, 2nd Wife Of Jimmie Walker, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/89700520/ |access-date=September 26, 2024 |work=[[New York Daily News|Daily News]] |date=July 13, 1944 |location=Newspapers.com |format=Archive}}</ref>

After his return to the United States, Walker acted as head of [[Majestic Records]], which included such popular performing artists as [[Louis Prima]] and [[Bud Freeman]].<ref name=Connolly /> He and Compton would adopt two children, Mary Ann Walker and James J. Walker.<ref name="comptonmarriageanddivorce" /> In 1940 he had his own radio series on [[WEPN (AM)#WHN (1922–1948)|WHN]], ''Jimmy Walker's Opportunity Hour'', with [[Henry Gladstone]] serving as announcer.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Radio Review: Program Reviews - James J. Walker|author=Ackerman|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|volume=52|issue=11|date=March 16, 1940|page=8}}</ref> The same year, Compton began divorce action against Walker, with the divorce becoming official on March 15, 1941.<ref name="comptonmarriageanddivorce" /> He died on November 18, 1946 at the age of 65 of a brain hemorrhage.<ref>{{cite news|title=Former Mayor Walker Of New York Dies|url=https://news.google.ca/newspapers?id=higjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AGoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2787,2294040&dq=mayor+walker+dies&hl=en|work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |date=November 19, 1946 |access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref> He was interred in the [[Gate of Heaven Cemetery]] in [[Hawthorne, New York]].

When Walker was a member of the New York State Senate, he sponsored the "Walker Law" to legalize [[boxing]] in New York. He was honored a number of times over the years by the boxing community. Walker is a member of the [[International Boxing Hall of Fame]] and was given the [[Edward J. Neil Trophy]] in 1945 for his service to the sport.

He also spent many summers in [[Atlantic Beach, New York]], sometimes during his term as mayor, and afterward, for he was friends with its founder, William Austin.

A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] ranked Walker as the third-worst American big-city mayor to have served between the years 1820 and 1993.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The American Mayor |last=Holli |first=Melvin G. |publisher=PSU Press |year=1999 |location=University Park |url=https://archive.org/details/americanmayorbes0000holl |isbn=0-271-01876-3 |page=12}}</ref>