By ANTHONY DeMATTEO
Special to The Record
Local officials and friends grieved Sunday after the announcement that Sen. Jim King, a former president of the Florida Senate, died of pancreatic cancer. He was 69.
King, a Jacksonville Republican represented District 8, which includes St. Johns County. He was elected in a special election in 1999 after serving in the Florida House of Representatives and as majority leader. He was Senate president from 2002 to 2004.
“He was quite a good friend of our area,” St. Augustine Mayor Joe Boles said. “His encompassing and efficient work will be missed. He fought like a lion. I’m just sorry the cancer beat him.”
King worked with state Rep. Bill Proctor, R-St. Augustine, on legislation to allow the University of Florida to take over city owned historic properties in the Spanish Quarter.
“He was certainly a talented legislator,” Proctor said. “The few times I worked with him, I relied keenly upon him, and he never let me down.”
Proctor said the benefit King’s personality brought to Tallahassee will be missed. “He had a great sense of humor and a special type of wisdom,” Proctor said. “He broke the jam on many a piece of legislation, and he will be missed in the process. Of course, you never say anything bad about someone on a day like this. But if this were 10 years ago, I wouldn’t have anything negative to say. He’s got an outstanding legacy of public service.”
Former state Rep. Doug Wiles, Democrat, served St. Johns County in the Florida House from 1996 to 2004 and was House minority leader. He said King was often willing to compromise with lawmakers across the aisle.
“Despite the fact that we were in opposite parties, we found things that we could work together on,” Wiles said. “Jim was a huge asset to anyone he represented, as well as to the state of Florida. He was committed to helping people regardless of where they lived, but particularly passionate about the people of Northeast Florida.”
Council on Aging Executive Director Cathy Brown said that about eight years ago, she went to Tallahassee with the late St. Augustine attorney and lawmaker Hamilton Upchurch to lobby Wiles and King for money to build a local senior center.
The legislation passed with King’s help, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush.
“He [King] would be so thrilled we are building the River House Senior Center in St. Augustine,” Brown said. “He was a great friend to senior centers. Sometimes, when he’d get frustrated with the Legislature, he’d come and visit senior centers just to rejuvenate. Jim lived life with great gusto. If it wasn’t meant to be, I can just hear Jim saying, ‘It’s time to move on.’”
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