Edward King Jr., 1951-2011: Officer with duPont Fund believed in building communities

The Rev. Edward King Jr., who started with his father as a builder of churches and moved on to help build communities in physical and other ways, died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 60.

Rev. King came to Jacksonville in 1995 to work with the philanthropic Jessie Ball duPont Fund and was the organization's religion program officer. For many years he traveled the Southeast, providing assistance and developing programs for churches the agency supported.

As part of a large family in Miami, he grew up modestly and worked with his father building churches, said duPont Fund president Sherry Magill.

That experience was a plus in his work with the organization, which he joined after earning a master's of divinity at Emory University.

"He knew construction and he knew construction loans," Magill said. His experiences as a younger man familiarized him with the obstacles smaller churches face as they grow.

"He didn't intellectualize it," she said, "he felt it."

In Jacksonville, Rev. King's work with the duPont Fund included community development efforts with LISC Jacksonville, an urban core community revitalization program that builds and redevelops neighborhoods that private developers shun.

"He genuinely believed in what we call community development," Magill said.

Rev. King was the organization's first program manager to focus on religious programs and understood small churches and their role in small communities.

The duPont Fund website said his portfolio covered 75 churches, a synagogue and 15 other religious organizations. He served as assistant minister at Greater Macedonia Baptist Church in Jacksonville and was called to lead services across Northeast Florida, including St. Mary's Episcopal Church downtown.

"He had a warm and steady sense about him," Magill said. "He experienced joy every day."

He is survived by his wife, Cerrito; daughters Vanessa King of Miami, and Michae'l King of Jacksonville; sons Edward King III of Jacksonville, and Justin King, a student in North Dakota.