John Thomas Walton (October 8, 1946 – June 27, 2005) was an American war veteran and a son of

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

founder

Sam Walton Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) was an American business magnate best known for Co-founding the retailers Walmart and Sam's Club, which he started in Rogers, Arkansas, and Midwest City, Oklahoma, in 1962 and 1983 res ...

. He was also the chairman of True North Venture Partners, a

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm. Walton cofounded the Children's Scholarship Fund, providing tuition scholarships for disadvantaged youth.

Early life and service in the Vietnam War

Walton was born in Newport, Arkansas. He graduated from

Bentonville High School Bentonville High School (BHS) is a public high school in Bentonville, Arkansas, United States Founded in 1910, the school provides education for students in grades nine through twelve. It is one of two high schools of the Bentonville School Di ...

where he was a star

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. Walton went on to attend the

College of Wooster {{Infobox university , image = College of Wooster seal.png , image_upright = .6 , name = The College of Wooster , former_names = University of Wooster (1866–1915) , motto ...

Wooster, Ohio Wooster ( ) is a city in Wayne County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Ohio, the city lies approximately south-southwest of Cleveland, southwest of Akron and west of Canton. The population was 27,232 at the ...

. He dropped out of college in 1968 to spend more time playing the flute and enlisted in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

(after the Vietnamese

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched a surprise attack on 30 January 1968 against the forces of ...

). During the Vietnam war, Walton served in the

Green Berets The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service Berets of the United States Army, headgear, is a branch of the United States Army United States Army Special Operations Comm ...

as part of the

Studies and Observations Group Study or studies may refer to: General * Education **Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Field of study * Observational study * Scientific study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study ...

. He was involved in combat in the A Shau Valley and in

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, where he was the medic and the 1-1 (assistant team leader) of a unit named Spike Team Louisiana. Walton later received a

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against a ...

for bravery in combat.

Later life

After returning from

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, Walton learned to fly and went to work as a pilot for

. He later left the company to fly crop-dusters over cotton fields in several southern states and co-founded Satloc, an aerial application company that pioneered the use of GPS technology in agricultural crop-dusting. Walton then moved to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

where he founded Corsair Marine, a company that built

trimaran A trimaran (or double-outrigger) is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls (or "floats") which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recrea ...

sailboats. He also lived in

Durango, Colorado Durango is the home rule city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,071 at the 2020 United States census. Durango is the home of Fort Lewis College ...

, and was an enthusiastic skier, mountain biker, hiker, motorcycle rider, skydiver and scuba diver. In 1998, as part of the

Philanthropy Roundtable The Philanthropy Roundtable is a nonprofit organization that advises conservative philanthropists and advocates for donor privacy. History The Roundtable was founded in 1987 as a project of the now-defunct Institute For Educational Affairs. It ...

, Walton and friend Ted Forstmann established the Children's Scholarship Fund to provide tuition assistance for low-income families to send their children to private schools. He was an advocate of

school voucher A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...

s. For his achievements, he received the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership.

Death

Walton died on June 27, 2005, when the CGS Hawk Arrow home-built

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and Aircraft flight control system, conventional three-a ...

(registered as an "

experimental aircraft An experimental aircraft is an aircraft intended for testing new aerospace technologies and design concepts. The term ''research aircraft'' or '' testbed aircraft'', by contrast, generally denotes aircraft modified to perform scientific studies, ...

" under FAA regulations) that he was

piloting Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or air ...

crashed in

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. Walton's plane crashed at 12:20 p.m. local time (18:20 UTC) shortly after taking off from Jackson Hole Airport. The

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

later reported that Walton had improperly reinstalled the rear locking collar on the elevator control torque tube. This allowed the torque tube to move rearward during his flight and loosened the elevator control cable tension. The outcome of the failed repair was an inflight loss of pitch control, without which Walton could not control the aircraft's

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

. Shortly before his death, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' magazine had estimated Walton's net worth to be

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: * 1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...

, tied with his brother Jim as the 4th richest person in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and 11th-richest person in the world. Walton was survived by his wife Christy and their son Lukas. He was previously married to Mary Ann Gunn, who later became a judge in Arkansas. He had two brothers, S. Robson Walton and

Jim Walton James Carr Walton (born June 7, 1948) is an American businessman, currently an heir to the fortune of Walmart, the world's largest retailer. As of May 2025, Walton is the 12th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$114.1 billion acc ...

and a sister, Alice Walton.

References

External links

*
Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People 2004

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, John Thomas 1946 births 2005 deaths Accidental deaths in Wyoming American businesspeople in retailing United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States College of Wooster alumni People from Newport, Arkansas Bentonville High School alumni People from Bentonville, Arkansas Recipients of the Silver Star Members of the United States Army Special Forces John T. Businesspeople from Arkansas Businesspeople from Wyoming 20th-century American philanthropists United States Army soldiers 20th-century American businesspeople Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2005 Philanthropists from Arkansas

Early life and service in the Vietnam War

Later life

Death

See also

References

External links