Garry Bruce King

1942 - 2025

Garry Bruce King of Denton, Montana passed away at age 83 on September 26, 2025 after a decade-plus battle with lymphoma. He was born in Herkimer, NY on January 16,1942 to Leonard Joseph and Emily (Fischer) King. Leonard instilled at birth a love of hunting, fishing and the outdoors in his children. Garry grew up hunting, trapping and fishing the forests, lakes and rivers of upstate NY. He played multiple sports growing up, bailed hay and milked cows for local farmers and achieved the Eagle Scout rank through Boy Scouts of America. At Herkimer High School, he captained the football and baseball teams and also lettered in basketball and wrestling. While in high school, Garry went on a weekend field trip to Cornell University that changed the course of his life. Returning from Ithaca, he set a goal to attend Cornell. He put himself through school by tending bar at the Statler Hotel as well as Zeiser's Hotel in Speculator, NY and working as house boy at his fraternity, Sigma Nu. In 1963, he married Vivian Grilli, also from Herkimer. Graduating from Cornell in 1964, he became the first from his family to earn a college degree. After graduation, he started his professional career with Jewel Tea Company, beginning as a route salesman and eventually being promoted to Regional Sales Manager. The young King family moved half a dozen times over the next 10 years, finally settling in Ithaca, NY in 1974. In 1982, Garry was offered a new opportunity as Vice President and General Sales Manager with Standard Coffee Company and moved to New Orleans. He finished his career with Standard 10 years later while achieving his longtime goal of retiring at age 50. Always a goal setter, Garry then followed his life plan and moved to Montana to hunt and fish full time. During his first few years there, Garry would park his RV around the Treasure state noting "Every day I wake up to a million dollar view. When I get sick of one, I pick up and move to another million dollar view." After a few years of travel around the state, Garry bought a small ranch outside Denton, MT. On his property, he started a multi-year project in which he planted over 80,000 trees along with numerous food plots to attract the ring-necked pheasant and other game birds. He was wildly successful with this endeavor. Multiple generations of families now have fantastic memories of hunting Garry's fields. He was a big believer in conservation and public land access. He did a lot of volunteer work with Pheasants Forever and donated numerous hunts for auction. He loved working on his bird project during the spring and summer and seeing huge numbers of pheasants harvested each fall.

In June, 2003, after a lengthy courtship, Garry married Leanne (Hopson) in Brentwood, TN. For the next 22 years, they split time between Montana in summer and fall, while spending winters in Phoenix and/or Brentwood. Garry adopted Leanne's alma mater (University of Kentucky) and became a big UK basketball fan. An avid fly fisherman, Garry loved to tie flies and play tennis when he wasn't out in his Watermaster. Garry was preceded in death by his parents Leonard and Emily and brother Richard. He is survived by wife Leanne, stepdaughters Margaret Futrell (grandchildren Jack and Luke Shimkin) and Jennifer Arenth (granddaughter Savannah, great-grandson Callahan Shuff); brother Rodney (Pam), niece Amber and nephew Peter (Holly) of Bozeman, MT and sister Jacqueline (Bill Stoeger) of Appleton, WI; children James (Candace) and granddaughters Bella and Brooke of Overland Park, KS and Jennifer (Jason) Saucier, grandchildren Destyn and Walker, and great-granddaughter Ruby of Hampstead, NC. Garry was a friend to all who knew him. His mentorship greatly impacted and dramatically improved the lives of many who were fortunate enough to know him. He was very generous with both his treasure and his time. He was a loving husband, brother, father and friend and will be dearly missed. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Garry to Pheasants Forever of Central Montana, c/o Craig Flentie, 208 Southland, Lewistown, MT 59457 or Public Land Water Access Assn., 2100 Fairway Dr, Ste. 211, Bozeman, MT 59715.

A memorial service is planned for October 18th in Bozeman, MT.