King served as CEO at Ohio AgriBusiness Assn. for 21 years.

January 16, 2019

1 Min Read
Former Ohio AgriBusiness CEO Gary King dies

Gary King.jpg

Gary Robert King, age 77, of Leesburg, Fla., died Jan. 14, 2019, in his home, surrounded by family, from complications of Lewy body dementia. King served as chief executive officer of the Ohio AgriBusiness Assn. (OABA) for more than 20 years.

“His loss will be felt across the agricultural community,” OABA said in a member bulletin.

King retired in 2010 after 21 years as CEO of OABA, serving Ohio agriculture.

He and his wife, Patricia Suzanne Whitmore, had three children, whom they raised primarily in Bay Port, Mich.

King was also a gifted athlete, being inducted into the J.W. Sexton High School Athletic Hall of Fame for Wrestling (1958-59), after winning two consecutive state championships. He attended Michigan State University on a wrestling scholarship and held the pinning record there for a number of years. He was an alternate on the 1960 U.S. Olympic team – due to a dislocated elbow, in the final qualifying match at Madison Square Gardens. He also played football at both the high school and college level.

In his later years, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, sailing and boating, golf, pickleball and shuffleboard.

Gary is survived by his brother James King (Linda Anderson), wife Patricia King, daughter Keri King-Libbe (Doug Bunce), sons Brad King (Melissa Moffitt) and Troy King (Jessica Hotaling) and seven grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held in Lansing, Mich., and Leesburg later this year. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Lewy Body Dementia Assn. in King’s name: www.lbda.org.

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