Former Florida Senate President King dies at 69
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Former Florida Senate President Jim King, who sometimes fought Gov. Jeb Bush and his own Republican Party over the Terri Schiavo right-to-die battle in 2005, died Sunday after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer, a family spokeswoman said. He was 69.
King, who served as Senate president from 2002 to 2004, underwent surgery in June to remove tumors from his pancreas after being diagnosed with cancer a month earlier. His final term in the Senate was to expire in November 2010.
“Not even cancer could rob him of his sense of humor and spirit,” said former press aide Sarah Bascom, who announced King’s death Sunday on behalf of the family. “He was the Jim King that we all know and loved until the very end.”
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said in a statement: “You couldn’t help but love Jim King. He lived every day with such enthusiasm and joy. We mourn the loss of this great Floridian.”
A feisty, plainspoken figure, King gained some national attention when he helped lead a group of Republicans who blocked legislation favored by Bush that would have forced Schiavo’s feeding tube to be reinserted.
The brain-damaged woman died in 2005 after her husband removed the tube over the objections of her parents. King once told the St. Petersburg Times editorial board that his initial 2003 vote in support of state intervention in the case was “probably one of the worst votes that I’ve ever done.”
A self-made millionaire from Jacksonville, King was elected Senate president in 2002 at a time of economic uncertainty and voter demands to shrink classroom size in the public schools and create a pre-kindergarten program for 4-year-olds.
“I find myself somewhere between the dog and the fire hydrant,” King said that year.
King, who built a personnel services business into a multimillion dollar enterprise, decided to jump into politics after years of complaining about “those idiot politicians” in Tallahassee. In 1986 he ran for a state House seat in northeast Jacksonville, which included the Naval Station at Mayport. The district was barely a third Republican and no Republican had ever been elected there.
“We told him to quit bitching and belly up to the bar,” said longtime friend Doug Speeler, a St. Petersburg businessman. He told King that no one would elect a fat politician who smoked. “So he quit smoking!” said Speeler.
King campaigned for nine months and won 56 percent of the vote, benefiting from the “coattails” of Republican Gov. Bob Martinez’s win at the top of the ticket.
Both men arrived just in time for the services tax fiasco in the 1987 legislative session.
The measure would have extended Florida’s sales tax to a host of previously untaxed services, ranging from pet grooming and accounting to advertising and haircuts. It was passed and then repealed weeks later after an unrelenting barrage of criticism.
King, who was then part of a Republican minority in the Legislature, survived the political fallout.
He pushed through a bill in 2007 that allows people to buried with the ashes of their pets, if the animal’s cremains are kept in a separate container. This will allow King to be buried with the ashes of his beloved black Labrador, Valentine, who died in 1998.
Popular with his colleagues, lobbyists and reporters, he didn’t mind making fun of his own Falstaffian figure.
“It is self perception,” he once said. “Some may look at me and see Jackie Gleason. I look at me and see Sean Connery.”
In 1996, he was outmaneuvered by former Sen. Daniel Webster of Orlando for House speaker. But he learned from the setback and bested Webster to become Senate president in 2003-04.
“We were charmed by his humor and challenged by his intellect,” Senate President Jeff Atwater said Sunday. “His presence, counsel, and most importantly his friendship will be deeply missed.”
Former Gov. Jeb Bush called King “big-hearted, kind and generous.”
“It was impossible not to like Jim King, a man with a larger than life personality and a passion for public service to match it,” said Bush, in a statement.
Born on Oct. 30, 1939, King moved with his family from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Florida when he was a first grader after his father returned from World War II. He attended public school and community college in St. Petersburg and became the first person in his family to earn a high school diploma when he graduated from Boca Ciega High School in 1957.
He earned undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration from Florida State.
King became a full-time politician in 1997 when he and his partners sold their personnel company to Wackenhut for $16 million. King’s share was $5 million.
King is survived by his wife of almost 30 years, Linda Braddock King; daughters Monta Bolles of Tampa and Laurie Anne Dolan of Gainesville; sons-in-law Maj. Chuck Bolles and Rick Dolan; and three grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at the St. John’s Cathedral in Jacksonville, at 11 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 1 at 11:00 a.m. and in Tallahassee in the House Chambers at the Capitol at 2 p.m., Aug. 4.
Former Florida Senate President King dies at 69
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Former Florida Senate President Jim King, who sometimes fought Gov. Jeb Bush and his own Republican Party over the Terri Schiavo right-to-die battle in 2005, died Sunday after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer, a family spokeswoman said. He was 69.
King, who served as Senate president from 2002 to 2004, underwent surgery in June to remove tumors from his pancreas after being diagnosed with cancer a month earlier. His final term in the Senate was to expire in November 2010.
“Not even cancer could rob him of his sense of humor and spirit,” said former press aide Sarah Bascom, who announced King’s death Sunday on behalf of the family. “He was the Jim King that we all know and loved until the very end.”
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said in a statement: “You couldn’t help but love Jim King. He lived every day with such enthusiasm and joy. We mourn the loss of this great Floridian.”
A feisty, plainspoken figure, King gained some national attention when he helped lead a group of Republicans who blocked legislation favored by Bush that would have forced Schiavo’s feeding tube to be reinserted.
The brain-damaged woman died in 2005 after her husband removed the tube over the objections of her parents. King once told the St. Petersburg Times editorial board that his initial 2003 vote in support of state intervention in the case was “probably one of the worst votes that I’ve ever done.”
A self-made millionaire from Jacksonville, King was elected Senate president in 2002 at a time of economic uncertainty and voter demands to shrink classroom size in the public schools and create a pre-kindergarten program for 4-year-olds.
“I find myself somewhere between the dog and the fire hydrant,” King said that year.
King, who built a personnel services business into a multimillion dollar enterprise, decided to jump into politics after years of complaining about “those idiot politicians” in Tallahassee. In 1986 he ran for a state House seat in northeast Jacksonville, which included the Naval Station at Mayport. The district was barely a third Republican and no Republican had ever been elected there.
“We told him to quit bitching and belly up to the bar,” said longtime friend Doug Speeler, a St. Petersburg businessman. He told King that no one would elect a fat politician who smoked. “So he quit smoking!” said Speeler.
King campaigned for nine months and won 56 percent of the vote, benefiting from the “coattails” of Republican Gov. Bob Martinez’s win at the top of the ticket.
Both men arrived just in time for the services tax fiasco in the 1987 legislative session.
The measure would have extended Florida’s sales tax to a host of previously untaxed services, ranging from pet grooming and accounting to advertising and haircuts. It was passed and then repealed weeks later after an unrelenting barrage of criticism.
King, who was then part of a Republican minority in the Legislature, survived the political fallout.
He pushed through a bill in 2007 that allows people to buried with the ashes of their pets, if the animal’s cremains are kept in a separate container. This will allow King to be buried with the ashes of his beloved black Labrador, Valentine, who died in 1998.
Popular with his colleagues, lobbyists and reporters, he didn’t mind making fun of his own Falstaffian figure.
“It is self perception,” he once said. “Some may look at me and see Jackie Gleason. I look at me and see Sean Connery.”
In 1996, he was outmaneuvered by former Sen. Daniel Webster of Orlando for House speaker. But he learned from the setback and bested Webster to become Senate president in 2003-04.
“We were charmed by his humor and challenged by his intellect,” Senate President Jeff Atwater said Sunday. “His presence, counsel, and most importantly his friendship will be deeply missed.”
Former Gov. Jeb Bush called King “big-hearted, kind and generous.”
“It was impossible not to like Jim King, a man with a larger than life personality and a passion for public service to match it,” said Bush, in a statement.
Born on Oct. 30, 1939, King moved with his family from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Florida when he was a first grader after his father returned from World War II. He attended public school and community college in St. Petersburg and became the first person in his family to earn a high school diploma when he graduated from Boca Ciega High School in 1957.
He earned undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration from Florida State.
King became a full-time politician in 1997 when he and his partners sold their personnel company to Wackenhut for $16 million. King’s share was $5 million.
King is survived by his wife of almost 30 years, Linda Braddock King; daughters Monta Bolles of Tampa and Laurie Anne Dolan of Gainesville; sons-in-law Maj. Chuck Bolles and Rick Dolan; and three grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at the St. John’s Cathedral in Jacksonville, at 11 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 1 at 11:00 a.m. and in Tallahassee in the House Chambers at the Capitol at 2 p.m., Aug. 4.