Jerry R. King

Born in Butler, Missouri, Jerry King graduated from Adrian High School in 1953 where he served as FFA president and was honored as FFA State Farmer and FFA American Farmer. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture in 1957 from the University of Missouri. While in college, he served on the University’s Dairy Judging Team and was president of the Agriculture Club, vice-president of his fraternity, Alpha Gamma Sigma, and president of Ruf Nex.

Among his many notable endeavors, King will perhaps be remembered best as a dairy farmer, and proudly, as a State Representative for Missouri’s 125th District, serving from 1998 through 2004.

King began dairy farming with his brother-in-law, Edward H. Steele in 1957, milking 270 registered Holstein cows daily. They formed a family corporation in 1972: Steele & King Farms, Inc. Their motto was “We milk our show cows and show our milk cows.” King’s son Rick King joined the corporation in 1980 as a junior partner. In 1994, the Steele and King families were given the Missouri State Fair Family Recognition Award. The S&K prefix was widely known at home, at sales, and in the show ring. From 1974 to 1984, the farming operation also included a registered Angus and Simmental herd.

In addition to milk production, breeding, showing cows and farming, King and his partners were active in dairy related civic activities. The organization and operation of the Bates County Fair was of great importance to King, prompting him to serve as chairman of the organization committee in 1972, and continuing as president of the Bates County Fair Board, 1973-78. His involvement and contributions to the field of agriculture, dairy farming, and education in both, was extensive. At the local level, he was a 4-H leader from 1960-80.

Jerry King served on the board of directors and later as president of the Missouri Holstein Association. He was a member of the Holstein USA board of directors, where he also served as chairman of both the field operations and finance committees. He served on the board of the Mid-American Dairymen (Kansas City Division), the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) Central Council Division 3, the executive committee of the Kansas City Area Dairy Council and as well, the World Dairy Expo board of directors.

King became an approved Holstein judge in 1970, and his judging took him to national and state fairs throughout Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee. He also worked with the United State Foreign Agriculture Service and the Holstein Association USA in Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru. King served on the advisory committee of the Missouri State Fair and he volunteered overseas in a cooperative assistance assignment to Russia, an effort to help dissolve collective farms in 1994.

His extensive involvement in not only agriculture programs and education, but local and statewide community organizations, helped him become elected in 1998 to the Missouri General Assembly, where he represented the 125th district. His committee memberships included the committees for Elections, Children, Families & Health, Retirement, Agriculture, Conservation, State Parks and Mining. He was later appointed to the National Beef Board by the Secretary of Agriculture in 2004, and was appointed to the Missouri State Fair Commission by the Governor.

Jerry King was honored throughout his life with awards in recognition of his extensive civic efforts. Among them, MU Alumni Citation of Merit, Butler Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year 1974, and in 1981, he received a Missouri Chamber of Commerce Appreciation Award.  In 1995, Steele & King Farms was honored with the Distinguished Breeder Award from the Missouri Dairy Hall of Honors Foundation. In 2000, he was named a Missouri Farm Bureau Friend of Agriculture. In 2004, he was recognized by the MU Ag Alumni Association as the University of Missouri, College of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources Alumnus of the Year.

King was a member of the Butler First Christian Church, where he served as elder, deacon, and chairman of the board of directors. In 2012, he was named Elder Emeritus. A member of the Butler Lion’s Club, he also held memberships in the Missouri Cattlemen and the National Cattlemen’s Association.

Jerry R. King was born January 7, 1935 in Butler, Missouri. He was the son of Richard H. and Mary Irene (Showalter) King. He passed away in 2013, survived by his wife Jeanette, son Rick, daughters Julie and Jana, and four grandchildren.