ED Loses a Great One

Many of you knew Jim King, a leading consultant and advisor to economic development organizations worldwide. Jim died last month. Here is a short piece about his career and life.

Sacramento resident Jim King, a nationally respected authority on economic development issues, succumbed to a heart attack August 14 at a local hospital. He is survived by his daughter Jodee King Carlson, her husband Mike Carlson and their daughter Sierra, all of Truckee; his son Eric R. King of Dallas, Texas, and his very dear friend Phyllis Gray. He also leaves a host of devoted friends and colleagues here in California and across the country who will miss his gentle mentoring, sage insights, and consistency of character.

James Robert King was born on December 19, 1931, in Dallas and was a graduate of North Texas University. He began his career in Washington, D.C. during the 1960s as a senior aide to the assistant secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Agency responsible for the Model Cities Program, President Lyndon Johnson¹s signature Great Society initiative. He later went to New Orleans as director of the Model Cities Program there under Mayor M.E. ³Moon² Landrieu before coming to California in 1971 to run San Jose¹s Office of Policy Research under Mayor Norm Mineta (now the U.S. Transportation Secretary).

In 1984, he moved to Sacramento to become the chief consultant to the Assembly¹s Economic Development Committee and then the principal advisor on economic issues and trends for the California Commission for Economic Development under the chairmanship of Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy. This marked the start of a period in which Jim had an increasingly influential impact on economic development policymaking both at the Capitol and throughout California.

As a private consultant over the past decade and a half, Jim advised an extensive roster of cities, counties, states, private sector businesses, public interest associations, research institutions, and economic development agencies. He ultimately came to be recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on rural economic development strategies and was named to the California Rural Development Council and to the Executive Board of the National Rural Development Partnership.

A much sought-after speaker and conference moderator, Jim co-authored the Handbook on Economic Development published by the League of California Cities, California State Association of Counties, and the California Association for Local Economic Development. From time to time, his unfailingly perceptive and lucid commentaries on the state's economic policy challenges appeared on the Op-Ed pages of the Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee.

Jim will be missed by all of us.