Editing Sam Walton (section)

==Personal life==
Walton married [[Helen Walton|Helen Robson]] on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1943.<ref name="Forbes269"/> They had four children: [[Samuel Robson Walton|Samuel Robson (Rob)]] born in 1944, [[John Thomas Walton|John Thomas]] (1946–2005), [[James Carr Walton|James Carr (Jim)]] born in 1948, and [[Alice Louise Walton|Alice Louise]] born in 1949.<ref name="Tedlow">{{cite journal | first1 = Richard S. | last1 = Tedlow | url = http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2375.html | title = Sam Walton: Great From the Start | date = July 23, 2001 | publisher = [[Harvard Business School]] | journal = Working Knowledge | access-date = March 30, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151016052926/http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2375.html | archive-date = October 16, 2015 | url-status = live }}</ref>

Walton supported various charitable causes. He and Helen were active in 1st Presbyterian Church in Bentonville;<ref>{{Cite news | url = https://www.dallasnews.com/news/faith/2007/04/20/presbyterian-obit-on-wal-mart-founder-s-widow/ | title = Presbyterian obit on Wal-Mart founder's widow | last = Hodges | first = Sam | newspaper = [[The Dallas Morning News]] | date = April 20, 2007 | access-date = November 1, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191101002817/https://www.dallasnews.com/news/faith/2007/04/20/presbyterian-obit-on-wal-mart-founder-s-widow/ | archive-date = November 1, 2019 | url-status = live }}</ref> Sam served as an Elder and a Sunday School teacher, teaching high school age students.<ref>{{Cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/books/review/Frank-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 | title = Nickel and Dimed | author = Robert Frank | work = [[The New York Times]] | date = July 25, 2009 | access-date = February 18, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170821213941/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/books/review/Frank-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 | archive-date = August 21, 2017 | url-status = live }}</ref> The family made substantial contributions to the congregation. Walton worked the concept of “service leadership” into the corporate structure of Walmart based on the concept of [[Jesus|Christ]] being a servant leader and emphasized the importance of serving others based in [[Christianity]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Walsh |first1=Colleen |title=God and Walmart |date=November 19, 2009 |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/11/god-and-walmart/ |access-date=October 6, 2021}}</ref>

Walton was diagnosed and treated for [[Hairy cell leukemia]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hayes |first1=Thomas |title=Sam Walton Is Dead At 74; the Founder Of Wal-Mart Stores |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 6, 1992 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/06/us/sam-walton-is-dead-at-74-the-founder-of-wal-mart-stores.html |access-date=Mar 14, 2022}}</ref>

===Death===
Walton died on Sunday, April 5, 1992 (three months shy of Walmart's thirtieth anniversary), of [[multiple myeloma]], a type of blood cancer,<ref>{{cite book | last = Walton | first = Sam | title = Sam Walton: Made in America | publisher = Bantam Books | isbn = 0-553-56283-5 | page = 329 | year = 1993}}</ref> in [[Little Rock, Arkansas]].<ref name="death">{{cite news | last = Ortega | first = Bob | url = https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/o/ortega-sam.html | title = In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and How Wal-Mart Is Devouring America | newspaper = [[The New York Times]] | access-date = February 7, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050409203145/http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/o/ortega-sam.html | archive-date = April 9, 2005 | url-status = live }}</ref> A few days earlier, according to his son, Walton was still reviewing sales data in his hospital bed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fishman |first=Charles |title=[[The Wal-Mart Effect]] |date=2006 |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=978-0-14-303878-8 |location=New York, NY |pages=31 |quote=His oldest son said Walton was reviewing store-level sales data, in his hospital bed, days before he died.}}</ref> The news of his death was relayed by satellite to all 1,960 Walmart stores.<ref name="Forbes283">{{cite book | first1 = Daniel | last1 = Gross | author2 = [[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]] Staff | date = August 1997 | title = Greatest Business Stories of All Time | edition = First | publisher = [[John Wiley & Sons]], Inc | location = New York | isbn = 0-471-19653-3 | page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_0471196533/page/283 283] | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_0471196533/page/283 }}</ref> At the time, his company employed 400,000 people. Annual sales of nearly $50&nbsp;billion flowed from 1,735 Walmarts, 212 Sam's Clubs, and 13 Supercenters.<ref name="Britannica"/>

His remains are interred at the Bentonville Cemetery. He left his ownership in Walmart to his wife and their children: [[S. Robson Walton|Rob Walton]] succeeded his father as the Chairman of Walmart, and [[John T. Walton|John Walton]] was a director until his death in a 2005 plane crash. The others are not directly involved in the company (except through their voting power as shareholders), however his son [[Jim Walton]] is chairman of Arvest Bank. The Walton family held five spots in the top ten richest people in the United States until 2005. Two daughters of Sam's brother [[Bud Walton]] &mdash; [[Ann Walton Kroenke|Ann Kroenke]] and [[Nancy Walton Laurie|Nancy Laurie]] &mdash; hold smaller shares in the company.<ref>{{cite magazine | title = Ann Walton Kroenke | url = https://www.forbes.com/profile/ann-walton-kroenke/ | magazine = [[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]] | access-date = October 31, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190727021752/https://www.forbes.com/profile/ann-walton-kroenke/ | archive-date = July 27, 2019 | url-status = live }}</ref>