George Savage King Jr.

Chip, as he was known to his friends and family, grew up in Columbia and spent most of his life there. The son of George Savage King and Harriet McGillivray Witte King, he attended Dreher High School and was active in Boy Scout Troop 10, earning the rank of Eagle Scout and serving as a Junior Assistant Scout Master.

He went to college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he majored in Political Science. After graduating, he fell in love with a teacher named Geraldine MacNeal Frampton, who he married in 1964. It was a marriage that would last the rest of his life, giving him two children (George Savage King, III and Elizabeth Gregorie King) and countless happy memories.

After college, Chip served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, working as a navigator on C-141 cargo planes. During his five years in the service, he circumnavigated the globe twice, transporting everything from troops and munitions to cat food.

While he remained passionate about aviation throughout his life, his true passion was the law. He graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law and returned to his hometown of Columbia to begin practicing at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., then known as Boyd, Knowlton, Tate & Finlay.

He delighted in good debate (argument) – and he always won, whether you acknowledged it to his face or not. He loved the power of language. He loved his colleagues at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. He was a lawyer’s lawyer, and a mentor to the end, taking on his most recent student from the new class of associates, while leaving his senior student of over 40 years to try to carry the torch … an impossible task. His wise counsel and advice will be deeply missed.

Chip’s professional achievements in the over 50 years he practiced were many. He was the head of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd’s corporate securities and financial institution regulatory practices, areas of complex practice in which few South Carolina lawyers engage. He acted as Securities and Exchange Commission counsel in dozens of IPOs and registered offerings as well as private placements. Chip regularly advised both SEC reporting and non-reporting companies and their directors on their fiduciary duties in the context of shareholder proposals, tender offers, proxy contests, going private transactions and general corporate law. He was beloved by his clients, who saw him not only as a trusted counselor, but as a friend.

Chip was Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd’s lead attorney on more than 50 mergers and acquisitions and assisted other firm attorneys on securities issues in other mergers and acquisitions. He helped form more than 16 national and state banks and federally and state-chartered savings institutions and advised financial institutions and their holding companies to ensure continuing compliance with federal and state regulations.

He was listed in Chambers USA Banking and Finance (2003-2022), Corporate/M&A (2003-2022); The Best Lawyers in America© Banking and Finance Law (1995-2023); Corporate Law (2006-2023); Financial Services Regulation Law (2011-2023); Securities/Capital Markets Law (2007-2023) and Securities Regulation (2011-2023); South Carolina Super Lawyers® Securities and Corporate Finance (2014-2021); Columbia Business Monthly "Legal Elite of the Midlands Top Attorney Vote" Corporate Law – Securities 2022; Columbia Business Monthly “Legal Elite of the Midlands” Corporate Law – Business Organizations 2022 and Corporate Law – Securities 2022. And no one, not even his family, would ever have known about these accomplishments if the firm hadn’t insisted on publishing them. Chip was also a Life Member of the American Law Institute and derived great pleasure from being a member of the Columbia Economics Club (Bastiat Society).

Although Chip couldn't carry a tune, he loved music, especially the opera and the philharmonic. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina Philharmonic, a dedicated member of the Columbia Evening Music Club, and religiously listened to the Metropolitan Opera.

He also served as the President of the South Carolina Archeological Society and as a Board Member for Workshop Theater, spending many weekends building sets for their productions. His favorite, of course, were the musicals.

He shared his many loves with his children, teaching them from an early age how to paint sets, spot arrowheads, appreciate art, and interpret the instruments in Peter and the Wolf.

He will be remembered for his quick wit, his kindness, and his passion for the things and people he loved.

He is survived by his wife Geraldine, his two children (George and Elizabeth), his daughter-in-law Susanna King, his two grandchildren David and Peter King, his sister Harriet King Wasserman, her husband Michael and countless nieces, nephews and cousins.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, January 6 at 11:00 a.m. at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his name to the South Carolina Philharmonic and the Columbia Museum of Art.