CAMDEN — Franklin M. Walker Jr., aged 81 of Camden, Maine, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his loving family after a long battle with cancer.

Franklin was born and raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. There he attended Grosse Pointe University School where he was president of his junior class, lettered in football and track, and was captain of the track team, setting four school track records. His youth was filled with adventure, including travel throughout Europe and the running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Upon graduation, he attended the University of Michigan, College of Engineering. He earned his private pilot’s license during his second year at Michigan.

After two years of studying engineering, he decided it was not his strong suit. He transferred to the University of Colorado in Boulder, which proved to be a great experience. He enjoyed rock climbing, skiing, and exploring the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Upon graduation in 1967, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. His first duty station was aboard the USS Theodore Chandler (DD-717) homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. He served as the ship’s gunnery officer and also qualified as an OOD Underway. The Chandler saw extensive combat operations off the coast of North Vietnam, including taking hostile shore fire, for which the ship was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation. While homeported in Japan, he traveled extensively throughout the country and summited Mt. Fuji. He also visited numerous other Asian countries.

His second tour was as a Naval Gunfire Liaison Officer with the Second Marine Division, 10th Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. While stationed with the Marines, he made several deployments and graduated from the U.S. Army Jungle Warfare School at Fort Sherman in Panama. After completing his service, Franklin attended Boston University Law School and subsequently practiced at Choate, Hall & Stewart, one of Boston’s oldest and largest law firms. He later fulfilled his lifelong dream of moving his family to Maine, where he had spent summers as a child. There he started his own law practice, which he ran for the next 30 years.

Franklin had an early love of the Detroit Red Wings and hockey. He later enjoyed squash, sailing, and more recently fly fishing. He was the proud owner of four wooden Herreshoff sailboats and enjoyed cruising the coast of Maine. He also had an extensive library of hundreds of books on travel, sailing, boat design, history, fly fishing, geography, and politics. He had a passion for travel, visiting 28 countries over his lifetime. Franklin was a member of the Camden Yacht Club, the Rockport Boat Club, the Megunticook Golf Club, and formerly the Union Boat Club of Boston, the Tennis and Racquet Club of Boston, and the Hillsboro Club of Pompano Beach, Florida.

He was predeceased by his parents, Franklin and Jane Walker of Grosse Pointe, Michigan and Naples, Florida; and his brother Bruce Walker of San Francisco, California.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Missie Walker of Camden, Maine; his daughter Missie B.; his son, Nathaniel; daughters by a previous marriage, Alison and Elizabeth; and several grandchildren.

Franklin dearly loved his family, including his dog Hunter, more than anything in the world. He was a kind and inquisitive man, a lover of learning and nature, and a great dad and husband.

A private family service will be held in the future, and per his request his ashes are to be scattered in his beloved Penobscot Bay.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations be made in his memory to PAWS Animal Adoption Center in Camden.