J. Jackson Walter, 67; former ethics watchdog, preservationist
WASHINGTON - J. Jackson Walter, 67, a former federal ethics watchdog who made vital contributions to preserving heritage sites, including parks and shipwrecks, while running the National Trust for Historic Preservation for eight years, died July 18 at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia after multiple strokes.
A real estate lawyer and public administrator, Mr. Walter became the first confirmed director of the US Office of Government Ethics in 1979. The office, which he led for three years, originated from a post-Watergate law to vet public figures for potential conflicts of interest.
He grew increasingly combative about what he told Time magazine was the Reagan administration's "antigovernment rhetoric and mentality" resulting in a casual approach to following federal ethics guidelines. He had tussled with several administration figures, most prominently Nancy Reagan for accepting clothing as loans and gifts from US designers.
In 1984, Mr. Walter was appointed president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, established in 1949 as a congressionally chartered protector of historic properties.
Among his most vital contributions was saving historic preservation tax credits, which in 1976 began to encourage developers and municipalities to reuse historic structures instead of tearing them down.
During his tenure, Mr. Walter achieved several victories. He oversaw the restoration and public opening of James Madison's Montpelier estate north of Charlottesville, Va. And he succeeded in preventing proposed development on New York's Ellis Island and protecting several Civil War sites from encroaching development.
To gain media attention, Mr. Walter devised the National Trust's annual list of the 11 most endangered historic places. The lists have included specific sites, such as Antietam National Battlefield Park in Washington County, Md., and all of Vermont, because of an influx of big box retail stores.
Joseph Jackson Walter, known as Jack, was born Nov. 6, 1940, in Swarthmore, Pa. He was a 1962 graduate of Amherst College in Massachusetts and a 1966 graduate of Yale University's law school. He signaled an early interest in preservation by attending lectures on urban planning by Yale architecture scholar Vincent Scully.
