NEW YORK — June Walker, a former president of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America died late last month at age 74, not long after tests revealed the cancer she had fought for seven years had advanced too far to allow for a new round of treatment.

“She was such a remarkable fighter,” said Walker’s rabbi, Amy Joy Small. “She did not let it stop her. She had things to do.”

A respiratory therapist, former college professor and health-care administrator, Walker was a longtime community activist whose involvement with Hadassah began as a teenager.

In June, Walker was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Haifa in recognition of her years of work on behalf of Israel, and in particular her devotion to health care in the Jewish State.

“She told me that she was determined she was going to be strong and healthy to get to Haifa and receive this award because it was for her symbolic of her lifetime achievement, something that represented for her a culmination of her accomplishments,” said Small, who accompanied Walker to Israel for the ceremony.

Small recalled that the honorees were to walk across a balcony and down a flight of stairs, a feat that she knew would be challenging for Walker, who was suffering back and leg pain as a result of her disease.

“She held herself with such dignity and such honor you would never have known that she was suffering,” Small recalled. “And she was beaming.”

Walker rose through a succession of positions at Hadassah before assuming the presidency in 2003, a post she held for four years.

Walker was also chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, only the second woman to hold that post.

“It is with a very heavy heart that we begin to mourn June Walker, a unique leader and a wonderful friend to many,” said Walker’s successor as Hadassah president, Nancy Falchuk.

She is survived by her husband, Barrett; a son, David Walker; two daughters, Ellen Walker and Julie Richman; and six grandchildren.