John VanRensselaer King ’57
John VanRensselaer King ’57 passed away on March 26 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Jack graduated from Nyack (New York) High School. He majored in economics, was a member of Sigma Chi, and was involved in the swim team and DOC. After graduation he served in the U.S. Army. After several years as a successful sales representative, Jack was hired by R&G Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest manufacturer of plastic pipe fittings for electrical conduits, and was later promoted to president of the corporation. Jack became an eclectic entrepreneur. He founded Kraloy Products, a producer of plastic pipe fittings. He was cofounder of Miller and King, a major Paso Robles, California, cattle and grain farming operation. He was founder and director of Heritage Oaks Bank. In 1992 he took a cruise down the Volga River with a group of Dartmouth alumni. They stopped outside of Moscow to tour a restored 17th century church, where Jack met Russian Orthodox Archbishop Alexandr, who complained about the sorry state of the churches in atheist Russia and mentioned their natural springs. “The idea of bottling the church’s spring water just blew me away. I didn’t sleep that night,” he said. He founded Saint Springs Water Co,, which grew to become one of Europe’s largest bottling companies. The story of this venture appeared in The New York Times in 1994. In 2002 it was acquired by the Nestle Corp. Jack is survived by his wife, Marina, two children, and five grandchildren.
