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Obituary

Businessman had passion for politics

By Marty Clear
Published July 20, 2007

He never finished college, but he thrived in business and politics through hard work and an abundance of personal charm. He counted presidents and governors among his friends.

James King, who died July 11 at age 78 after several years of declining health, was an expert in making friends and building interpersonal connections.

"He had an amazing sense of humor, and if you talked to him, you knew you were going to be entertained," said his son, Kent King. "Even in recent years, after he had his stroke, it was always a pleasure for my sister and me to visit him, because he still entertained us."

Mr. King was born in Cleveland, but came to Tampa with his family when he was a child. They settled in South Tampa, and Mr. King attended Roosevelt Elementary, Wilson Junior High School and Plant High School.

At Plant, Mr. King excelled at swimming and diving, and won state high school and Amateur Athletic Union championships in diving.

His academic and sports careers were interrupted when he enlisted in the military. He signed on while he was still in high school, as World War II drew to a close, and spent much of his military service in post-war Japan.

After two years in the military, he returned to Plant, and then went on to the University of Florida. He later transferred to Florida State University.

"My mother was a student at Florida State, so he went there to chase her," Kent King said.

Once he'd wooed Joan Merrin, the couple returned here to start their family. With his older brother, Mr. King ran two South Tampa stores, King Porch and Patio and Rex King Interiors.

He later took a sales job with a company that made paper cups.

"My dad was a natural salesman," his son said. "He could talk to anybody, and people were drawn to him."

His job took the family to New Orleans, where the Kings lived for 17 years. There, he became active in politics.

"He got involved with the Louisiana Republican Party, which was about four people at the time," his son said.

He ran for the state Senate, and hobnobbed with GOP bigwigs when they came to town. Among his most valued possessions were handwritten letters of appreciation from Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. David Treen, the first Republican governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction, was his close friend. In 1968, Mr. King served as a delegate to the Republican convention.

"He was the guy who stood up and said, 'The state of Louisiana casts its votes for Richard Nixon,' " his son said.

But Tampa was always his home, and in the early 1970s, when Mr. King was a vice president of the cup company, he returned to Tampa with his family.

He traveled a lot during the week, but he spent weekends with his family, often indulging in his hobby: building houses.

"He had a passion for designing and building houses," Kent King said. "On weekends we would be in Odessa, building cabins and lakefront houses."

Mr. King and his son might take about a year or so to build a house from the ground up, camping nearby or sleeping on the floor of half-completed houses. The family would usually keep the houses for a short time, and stay there during fishing and hunting trips, and then Mr. King would sell them. Several of the houses the King family built are still standing today.

Eventually, Mr. King left the cup company and started a branch of a paper distribution company. In the late 1990s, he retired. Around that same time, he and his wife divorced.

A stroke in 2003 left Mr. King paralyzed on one side. He spent the last few years essentially bed-ridden. His death was sudden, but not unexpected.

"Every day," his son said, "I'd wake up and think 'This could be the day I get the call.' "

Besides his son and his ex-wife, Mr. King is survived by daughters Jill King Clendaniel and Wendy Ann King, three grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.

[Last modified July 19, 2007, 08:31:59]