David Sjodahl King: A Tribute

On May 5, 2009, David S. King passed away at his home in Kensington, Maryland. He would have been ninety-two in June. David’s life was extraordinary because of his exceptional career in public service and his lifelong career in Church service. He was raised in Washington, D.C., where his father, William Henry King, served four terms as U.S. Senator from Utah (1916-40). Both were ardent, lifelong Democrats. David was a 1942 graduate of Georgetown University College of Law. His public service included three terms in the House of Representatives (1958-62, 1964-66), an appointment as Ambassador to the Malagasy Republic (1967-69) and later as an alternate deputy director for the World Bank. His lengthy Church service included a mission to Great Britain (1937-39), ser vice as second assistant general superintendent of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association (1949-58), bishop of the Kensington Maryland Ward, Washington D.C. Stake (1970-78), president of the Haiti Port-au-Prince Mission (1986-89), president of the Washington DC Temple (1990-93) and patriarch of the Washington DC Stake from 1994 until his death. Some of his achievements in his chosen fields of public and Church service, along with some of his most dearly held values, are captured in “An Interview with David Sjodahl King” by Val G. Hemming, published in Dialogue, 37, no. 4 (Winter 2004): 130-67. 

He married Rosalie Lehner on March 10, 1948, and together they raised eight children. King loved politics, gospel study, and good conversation. A fluent French speaker, he enjoyed French culture, cuisine, literature, and politics. Later in life, he taught himself sufficient Greek to study the New Testament in the vernacular. David was a thoughtful scholar of American politics, a love of good books, a wise counselor, and great friend to all who were fortunate enough to know him. He is survived by his wife of sixty-one years and six of his children. 

—Val Hemming