William Austin King

1925 - 2020

William Austin King
William "Bill" King passed away peacefully on August 6, 2020, with his family by his side just shy of his 95th birthday. Son of the late George Stewart King and Marjorie Austin King Parsons, he was the stepson of Joseph H. Parsons. Bill was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Montclair and Englewood, New Jersey. He spent most of his childhood summers in Bellport, New York, on Great South Bay, where he developed a passion for sailing. He nurtured his love of the sea and boats throughout his entire life.
Bill attended the Dwight Englewood School for Boys and the Taft School, graduating early to enter the U.S. Navy in the winter of 1944. He served two and one-half years in the Pacific aboard a converted Destroyer escort carrying a team of frogmen whose pre-invasion efforts were to rid the landing area of underwater traps. The ship saw action in the Philippines, Borneo and Okinawa, then landed in Nagasaki one month after the bomb was dropped. Following the service, Bill attended Wesleyan University. He moved to New York where he joined the William Esty Advertising Agency producing television commercials for the R.J. Reynolds account. In 1970, he joined an old friend in establishing Smith-King, Inc. as manufacture representatives in the marine equipment field until his retirement.
It was while he was working in New York that Bill met the love of his life Barbara Shepley Beard and they were married in Rye, New York, in November 1953.They were happily married for sixty-six years.
Bill was a member of the Riverside Yacht Club, serving on the Board for thirteen years before becoming Commodore from 1976-1979. He won the Trenary Trophy, the club's highest award, in 1980. He was also one of three chairmen of the Club's Centennial Celebration in 1988. An active frostbiter for thirty-five years, Bill then moved on to a number of sailing boats, which he raced on Long Island Sound with a crew of wonderful friends and cruised the East coast from Maine to Florida. Bill sailed three Newport-Bermuda races, cruised five summers in the Scandinavian waters and in the San Juan Islands and the Caribbean. He was also a longtime member of the New York Yacht Club, the Storm Trysail Club, the Cruising Club of America and the Off Soundings Club.
Bill was a thirty-year volunteer at the Greenwich Hospital, where he served on the board of the Auxiliary and worked with a treasured group of friends in the Red Barons. He enjoyed membership in the Nutmeggers, the Horseneck Club, where he served as president, First Friday and the Harpoon Club.
Bill King was a kind, thoughtful, generous gentleman. He was blessed with a superb sense of humor and of the ridiculous. He was fun and had an enormous capacity for friendship. He loved music, knew more about the Big Band era than many professionals, and was a superb dancer. He leaves a legacy of love and concern for others, and a close-knit family who love traveling and being together.
In addition to his wife Barbara, Bill is survived by his beloved daughters Stacy "Muffy" King Fox (Andy) and Barbara "Boo" King Huth (Hank). He was adored by his grandchildren Peter (Tayler), Carter and Jack Fox and Halsey, Abigail, Phebe and Brecky Huth. He was predeceased by his sister Elizabeth King Eddy Lidgerwood and his stepbrother Joseph H. Parsons, Jr.
Due to the current pandemic, a memorial service will be held at a later date. The interment will be private.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Bill's name to the Oncology Fund at Greenwich Hospital, 35 River Road, Cos Cob, CT 06807, or the Taft School, 110 Woodbury Road, Watertown, CT 06795.