David Chester King

David Chester King, 70, of South Dartmouth, died on Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at Hope Health Hospice in Providence, after a mercifully brief, unforeseen battle with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Born in New Bedford, he was the son of the late Charles Potter and Eleanor May (Smith) King.

David graduated from Tabor Academy in Marion, class of 1971, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1976. He was very well-read, articulate, and conversant on many topics, often wryly tongue in cheek, a trait inherited from his father. Also inherited from his father, passed down from his grandmother, Jeanette (Gifford) King, was a lifelong fascination with the stock market and investing.

Although Dave studied political science and anthropology in college, he found his professional niche in the early boom of computer programming, participating in a training program at Wang Computer in the late ‘70s, which led to several years working with Wang. He merged his programming skills and his interest in financial markets into programming positions at Putnam Investments and Fidelity investments, before anybody thought to call it IT. Dave ended his career with EMC Corp., in Hopkinton and South Dartmouth, where he was a pioneer in the Work From Home movement. His brother coveted his t-shirt that proclaimed, “The only thing artificial about me is my intelligence” and always laughed when he listened to his voicemail recording that claimed he would return the call, “with alacrity.”

Dave’s life included a seemingly endless series of hobbies: from weights, to bicycles, to photography, to weights again, to whetstones and sharpening blades. Only the stock market remained a constant. From his mother and grandmother, Clara (Sylvia) Smith, he inherited a discerning palate, part epicure and part guy-at-the-next-table, and had great affection for the friendships gained where simple, good food and a community of regulars created a second home. Nowhere engendered that affection as well as Table 11 at Farm & Coast. He will miss it and will be missed.

He is survived by his brother, Paul Smith King and his wife Patricia Walker King of Needham, Massachusetts; his favorite nephews, Frank Walker King and Charles Walker King, both of Arlington, Virginia, and many cousins.

An informal graveside remembrance will take place on Wednesday, June 26th, at one-thirty in the afternoon at the South Dartmouth (Padanaram) Cemetery. Following the interment, a celebration of life will occur at Farm & Coast Market, Seven Bridge Street, South Dartmouth. All are welcome to each. In-lieu of flowers, donations may be made in David’s honor to the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation, 3634 W. Market Street, Suite 110, Akron, OH 44333, or online at https://cjdfoundation.org/donations/