Dr. Bob King filled every day with his energy and caring. Bradenton is better for it
Dr. Robert E. King filled his 86 years with caring for others as a healer, as a community leader, as a farmer, and as an endless searcher for knowledge.
He relished life and managed to pack each day with projects, ideas, and special interests, ranging from growing orchids to wood working and flying his own plane.
Along the way, he established Manatee Eye Clinic with Dr. Roger Meyer, served as chief of staff of Manatee Memorial Hospital and as president of the Manatee County Medical Society.
He also raised a family, helped bring Manatee River Youth Ranch to the Bradenton area, served as first president of the Manatee County 4-H Foundation, and as president of the Bradenton Kiwanis from 1974 to 1978.
Upon his death on March 20, 2021, he left his family with just one question:
“How do you jam 200 years of living into 86?”
‘He had such an active mind’
Dr. King was born on a Bradenton farm Nov. 18, 1934, graduated from Manatee High School in 1953, and attended Texas A&M University and Emory University, before graduating from medical school in 1959.
After completing specialty training in ophthalmology at Harvard University and his residency at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, he returned to Bradenton in 1963 to begin his practice. That same year, a friend introduced him to Susan Taylor and they were married in 1965. Early in his career, he also served six years as a doctor in the Florida National Guard.
A year after they were married, Bob and Susan moved to property on the Braden River. Friends thought the couple were moving to a really remote area at the time, but the new homestead allowed them to indulge their passion for farming and ranching and to start a family.
“We were a really good team,” Susan King said of how the couple managed raising a family and handling farm chores.
Live life fully, make every moment count, son Joe King said of his father’s approach to life.
After Dr. King retired from his practice, he and Susan split their time between North Carolina and Bradenton.
“For 15 of their 20 years in North Carolina, they didn’t have a TV. They read more books than you can imagine,” said daughter Marti.
“Love people, love the earth, love what you do,” Marti said of lessons learned from her father.
Susan’s father, Jack Taylor, and Bob King’s mother, Martha B. King, the Bradenton educator after whom a school is named, served together on the committee that steered the creation of Manatee Memorial Hospital. Dr. King later was involved in taking Manatee Memorial from a county hospital to corporate ownership.
Joe King called his father an innovator.
“He learned the human body and the eyeball, inside and out. He was one of the first to do all kinds of surgery,” Joe King said.
Looking back on his medical career, Susan King said her husband practiced in a golden age.
“The physicians all knew each other and worked together,” she said.
Out of that experience, Dr. King found the time to publish a book, titled “The History of the Practice of Medicine in Manatee County Florida” in 1987.
“He had such an active mind. He wanted to absorb everything that he could about things that he loved,” son Ben King said.
Bob and Susan King were life-long members of First United Methodist Church of Bradenton, They also helped establish Braden River Methodist Church.
Dr. King is survived by his wife of 55 years, Susan, three children, Joe, Marti and Ben, and nine grandchildren, Emma, Matthew and Will King, Laurel, Lea and Calla Beukemc, and Lily, Jeb, and Reid King. He was preceded in death by his parents, Bartow and Martha King, his brother, Peter King, and his sister, Marty Lou King.
A private graveside service was held at Manasota Memorial Park. The family asks that anyone wanting to make a memorial gift to contribute to their own favorite youth organization. A celebration of life is planned when it becomes safe to do so after the pandemic.
Arrangements were by Griffith Cline Funeral and Cremation Services.
