Born in South Africa on February 15, 1924, he came to Britain after graduating in medicine from the University of Cape Town in 1945.
He settled in Edinburgh in 1962 with his wife, Sula Wolff, a respected child psychologist who he married in 1957 after they met while working at the Maudsley Hospital, in London.
In 1967, he was appointed a professor in the Department of Psychiatry in Edinburgh, following a stint as head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cape Town and a research fellowship at Columbia University.
Art was a lifelong passion for Prof Walton, who had toyed with the idea of becoming an artist before committing himself to a career in medicine.
Prof Walton once said: “Throughout my life I’ve walked on two legs. One was medicine, and the other is education. Art is part of that educational configuration.”
His eclectic collection, including modern paintings, Oriental pieces and African carvings, was built up using only his own critical eye and his – and Sula’s – academic salaries.