Accomplished director of photography Peter Walker has lost his three-year battle with cancer. He died at his Toronto home Nov. 4 at the age of 53.

Walker’s varied career spanned more than 30 years, taking him around the world filming documentaries in Africa, Central America and Europe. At home, he shot documentaries for CBC, the National Film Board, TVOntario, Global, CTV and Alliance Atlantis channels.

His resume includes films such as Peter Wintonick and Mark Achbar’s Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, Murray Battle’s Man Overboard, Barry Greenwald’s High Risk Offender and the hit Canadian docuseries Birth Stories.

Walker’s collaboration with legendary documentarian Allan King produced the critically acclaimed Dying at Grace and, most recently, Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company, which made its debut at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.

In Memory, King and Walker examine the effects of aging on the mind by following eight residents at a geriatric care center in Toronto.

‘I don’t know of anyone other than Peter who could have done it better,’ King says. ‘We were dealing with people who had difficulty remembering others. They were sensitive people who resented being put in the home.’

The director says Walker’s skill at shooting cinéma vérité set him apart from most other documentary lensers.

‘His great skill was his sensitivity to people, his acute sense of drama and insight into human character. Peter was determined to get what he needed to get, while remaining sensitive to his subjects,’ says King.

Walker attended one of his last public events in April at a fundraiser for him in Toronto.

‘It took guts and grace for Peter to let us hold the celebration of his work when he could be there to share it with us,’ says Julia Bennett, production executive at Discovery Health Channel. ‘The energy of that night, with friends from the industry past and present, was utterly remarkable.’

Walker is survived by his wife, Jackie Ferrier, and their two daughters.