Jerome B. King ’48

Jerome B. King ’48 died on October 13, 2012, at his home in Kendal at Hanover in the presence of his immediate family. Jerry was born in New York City on May 1, 1927, to Dorothy Babcock and Robert W. King. He grew up in Short Hills, New Jersey, London and Scarsdale, New York. He received an A.B. from Dartmouth in 1948, after interrupting his studies to enlist in the Navy the day he turned 18. He received an M.B.A. and a Ph.D. from Stanford University, where he met his wife, then a Fulbright scholar from Aix-en-Provence, France. Jerry then began a long career teaching political philosophy at Middlebury College, Williams College, Universite’ d’Aix-Marseille, University of Massachusetts and Amherst College, where he received tenure. His son Daniel said that wherever his father was, “He tried to teach his students to think for themselves and question the way things were.” Jerry was an ardent activist for social justice and peace. At Williams he became active in the Vietnam anti-war movement and at Amherst in the peace movement for which the community was known. He was an active member of Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, where he served on the vestry. He shared a love of landscape painting with his father and of classical music with his mother. He enjoyed playing music (initially as a pianist and later as a violist) with family and friends until the end of his life. From the age of 13 until his death Jerry spent time at the family summer home at Caspian Lake in Vermont, where he relished activities from sailboat racing with his children as crew to clearing brush and making endless repairs to the cottage. He is survived by Muriel, his wife of 59 years; daughter Nathalia and her husband, Christopher; daughter Christianne and her husband, Sean; sons Daniel and David; and grandchildren Francis, Peter, Helena, Gabriel and Sebastian.