King was born in Virginia, Minnesota, and graduated from high school in Yakima, Washington.
He served with the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Europe during WWII and graduated from Ohio University after the war. King jumped three seasons at Missoula.

He received his doctor of medicine from the University of Cincinnati in 1954 and practiced family medicine before going into Pathology in 1966. King then practiced Pathology in West Lafayette, Indiana until his retirement to Stuart, Florida, in 1989.

He was an NSA member and liked to keep up with smokejumping through the Smokejumper magazine. Thanks to Bonnie Brady for sending along this information.