TRACY KING, 73, FORMER UW ALUMNI DIRECTOR, DIED AUG. 22
Media Contact: Tom Griffin
206-543-0540 or griffin@u.washington.edu
//FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE//
SEATTLE—Tracy King, who was executive director of the University of Washington Alumni Association from 1979 to 1990, died Aug. 22 of natural causes.
King, 73, led the alumni association during a time of expansion. Under his tenure, membership grew from about 15,000 to nearly 50,000. Today the association is among the top 15 dues-based alumni groups in the nation.
Born April 2, 1931, King grew up in Aberdeen and Bellingham and graduated from Vancouver, Wash. High School in 1949, where he led the football team to a state championship. He attended the UW on a football scholarship and was a three-time letter-winner, playing tight end and offensive guard for Coach Howie Odell. A member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, King was a business major and graduated in 1953.
After graduation he spent two years in the U.S. Army, including an 18-month stint in Korea. He worked 15 years in the insurance business before returning to the UW in 1973 as its retirement and insurance officer.
When he became executive director of the UW Alumni Association in 1979, he focused on increasing membership and creating close ties to academic units on campus. In a 1990 interview, he noted that the UWAA averaged a 20 percent growth in membership and revenue over a six-year period. "There is no other public university alumni association that has that kind of growth over the same period," he said.
Under his tenure the University and UWAA revamped their alumni magazine, changing its name to Columns and increasing its readership to include all living UW alumni in the United States. The alumni group also started its Young Alumni Club and a mentoring program linking minority alumni with UW Educational Opportunity Program students.
King retired in March 1990. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Joan; his twin brother Don and sister Dolores Van Leeuwen; four sons: Tracy Jr., Don, Ted and David; four stepchildren and 15 grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3, at University Presbyterian Church, 4540 15th Avenue N.E., Seattle, with a reception following. Memorial gifts can be made in his name directly to the Circle W Hi Hium Fishing Camp, Box 8-Savona, British Columbia, Canada VOK2JO.
- "Tracy King, 1931-2004: He led growth of UW Alumni Association," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 26, 2004.
- "UW 'friend-raiser' Tracy King, 73, had Husky pride," Seattle Times, August 31, 2004.
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