One of Singapore’s most well-known people in the nightlife and F&B industries has died.
An online obituary published on Heaven Address said that John Jackson “Johnny” Walker, the managing director and owner of Pacific Beverages, died on Oct 24, just one day after he turned 51.
Pacific Beverages is a major distributor of beverages in Singapore which distributes beer brands such as Stella Artois, San Miguel and Hoegaarden.
Born in South Africa, Walker had previously lived in China and moved to Singapore in 1991. He found a job at Zouk before joining the Emerald Hill Group later where he helped to establish iconic bars No. 5, Que Pasa and Ice-Cold Beer.
He started Pacific Beverages in 1996.
He is believed to have died of a cardiac arrest in his own home, according to sources.
In an obituary published on Nov 23 in The Straits Times, friends of Walker remembered him as a man who had “incredible loyalty, honesty, generosity and sense of fun”.
Friends Patrick C D MacMahon and Miles Fenley wrote that Walker “lived life at a break-neck speed but, somehow, left no-one behind”, while Alex Terry and Simon Price said he was a generous giver to charities and friends.
The obituary for Johnny Walker published in The Straits Times is as follows:
John Jackson “Johnny” Walker, who passed away recently in Singapore on his 51st birthday was born on 23rd October 1965 in Pretoria and he spent his early years in South Africa.
He attended the Waterkloof House Preparatory School for Boys and matriculated from the well-known South African boys’ school Hilton College at Notting Hill Road in the Natal Midlands.
In 1986, he completed two years of compulsory military training which was spent with No 7 South African Infantry Battalion as a Rifleman.
On completion of his National Service, he joined his parents who had been posted to Hong Kong. As he had always planned a future in the hospitality industry, he spent the next three years at the prestigious Les Roches International School of Hotel Management in Switzerland where he qualified in 1992.
His first job was at a major hotel in Beijing where he ran the Coffee Shop, the biggest single outlet in the hotel. He designed an incentive scheme for the estimated 40 young Chinese women working in the Coffee Shop whereby those who arrived on time were to be paid a bonus. At that time, this type of staff incentive was unheard of and he soon crossed swords with the hotel management.
In 1991, his parents were transferred from Hong Kong to Singapore and Johnny joined them there. On his second day in the country, dressed in his only suit and armed with his CV, he pounded the pavements looking for a job. By the end of the day he had found a position at Zouk where he spent several months.
It was during this period that he also spent protracted periods helping his elder brother Richard who was building what turned out to be a very successful holiday resort hotel on the small island of Tsaranbanjina off the west coast of Madagascar.
He then joined the Emerald Hill Group where he rose to the position of General Manager and helped to open and develop the three bars in the group: No 5. Que Pasa and Ice-Cold Beer. He worked very closely with all the suppliers including San Miguel Beer who approached him to establish an independent outlet for them in Singapore. San Miguel required that Johnny team up with an established distribution business in Singapore and so Johnny formed partnership with Mr Lian Ee Shin of Australian Fruit Juices. Pacific Beverages Pte Ltd was born in December 1996.
The company grew steadily and having outgrown its rented premises was forced to relocate five times until the problem was resolved by purchasing their own premises and their prestigious building at No 9, Fourth Lok Yang Road in Jurong is testimony to the success of the company.
Apart from the success of the business Johnny Walker has also left his own personal legacy in Singapore as expressed below in the words of four old and close friends.
At the same time as building his business, Johnny indulged his other great passion and founded the Wanderers Rugby Club. Under his patronage it went on to become the top club in Singapore with him attending every fixture and event his busy schedule would allow.
In public Johnny touched many, many lives with his incredible loyalty, honesty, generosity and sense of fun. It is a legacy that will be remembered. However, for all his public persona, he was also a very private man. Family and friends are just starting to learn about the extent of his personal philanthropy which appears to have only grown with his success.
From church orphanages in Sydney, disaster relief in Philippines, conservation efforts in his African homeland Johnny was quietly contributing time, effort and resources to help those less fortunate and unprotected. In this he sought no acclaim or thanks. He simply saw to ease suffering wherever he found it.
John Jackson “Johnny” Walker lived life at a break-neck speed but, somehow, left no-one behind. We give thanks for this remarkable, gentle man. We celebrate his life and will never forget him.
Patrick C D MacMahon and Miles Fenley
But much more than the success of the business, Johnny Walker left an amazing personal legacy in Singapore.
He touched an enormous number of lives with his incredible loyalty, honesty, generosity and sense of fun. One of his greatest passions was the Wanderers Rugby Club, which he helped found and sponsored continuously from its inception in 1996 until today. Every player, member and supporter of what has become a great Singapore institution owes him a huge debt of gratitude. He gave incredibly generously to charities, whilst deliberately avoiding recognition, and his personal generosity to his friends and colleagues was legendary. He had an enormously positive influence on the lives of those who knew him, and his generosity and humanity had a trickle down effect on the wider world.
Johnny Walker will be dearly missed and remembered Rest in peace.
Alex Terry and Simon Price
