Sam S. King

KING, Sam S.
Of Kalamazoo Sam Seymour King died March 9, 2010, at the Rose Arbor Hospice in Kalamazoo, MI.
He was born May 24, 1924 in Chicago, IL to Max and Ida King.
He attended Roosevelt High School in Chicago. He served in the US Army during WWII and afterward attended the University of Illinois, where he majored in journalism and served as managing editor of the Daily Illini. After receiving a BS in journalism from Illinois he returned to Chicago and went to work for the City News Bureau before getting a job at the Chicago Daily News, where he was a reporter and eventually became Assistant City Editor of the paper. After the Daily News he worked in public relations for the University of Chicago and later Booze Allen & Hamilton. He married Tilda Ritman in 1957 and they had two sons, David and Andrew. He received a Master of Arts degree in political science from Northeastern Illinois University in 1976. In 1977 the family moved to Kalamazoo, where Sam and Tilda purchased the Giftloft, which they operated for 22 years. In 1988 Sam enrolled in the graduate school at Western Michigan University and eventually earned his PhD in sociology in 1995. After he graduated he began teaching at WMU's sociology department and also taught courses in WMU's Lee Honors College. In addition to the standard sociology courses, he specialized and developed a comprehensive course in the Holocaust. He is survived by his wife, Tilda; son David and daughter in law Robin Yabroff of Washington, DC; nephew Larry King of Long Beach, CA; and niece Susan Zweig of Scottsdale, AZ. Services will be held Thursday, March 11 at 11:00 a.m. at Langeland Family Funeral Home, Memorial Chapel, 622 S. Burdick Street, followed by burial at Mountain Home Cemetery. Family will be receiving friends at a luncheon at Martell's formerly the Black Swan from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
Donations may be made to Rose Arbor Hospice, Temple B'nai Israel, or the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. www.langelands.com