David King, the Orlando ‘legal legend’ behind Fair Districts in Florida, dies at 79
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David King, the Orlando attorney who spearheaded the fight for Fair Districts in Florida, was “the David who really took down Goliath,” his son Chris King said Monday.
David King, 79, of Winter Park, died Friday of cancer at Orlando Health Regional Medical Center.
“He was a Southern gentleman of impeccable integrity, with a beating heart for justice,” said Chris King, one of King’s three sons and the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in 2018. “He had over 55 years in the practice of law. … And he was a legal legend.”
Orlando attorney John Morgan called David King “the lawyer you called when your whole world was on the line. He was right out of central casting, except he was real. He was the lawyer we all aspired to be.”
A graduate of Tennessee Technological University and Vanderbilt University Law School, King served as a Marine in Vietnam before moving to his wife Marilyn’s native Central Florida to practice law. He co-founded the law firm of King, Blackwell, Zehnder & Wermuth in Orlando.
David and Marilyn King were married for 56 years, “a love story for the ages,” Chris King said.
In 2014 and 2015, King was the lead attorney for the League of Women Voters in the Fair Districts case, which led to the redrawing of congressional and state Senate districts statewide.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled GOP legislative leaders colluded with Republican operatives to draw districts to benefit their party. State Senate leaders admitted they violated the constitution in the redistricting process.
“When you have so many coincidences that all go in the same direction— to make the map helpful for Republicans — it strains credibility,” King said at the time.
The League’s victory in that case led to the heavily gerrymandered districts being redrawn by the courts.
District 7 in Seminole County, which notably did not include Black neighborhoods in Sanford, was ultimately won by Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy in 2016 after redistricting to include those areas as well as parts of Orange County.
U.S. Rep. Val Demings also won in District 10 that included both Black neighborhoods west of downtown Orlando and downtown itself, previously attached to a Lake County-centered district.
“I think less about the philosophical changes or legal changes and more about the people that have been given the opportunity to serve,” Chris King said, “that otherwise, even though they were wonderful people, would not have had the districts to run in. And that’s why it’s so important.”
Linda Chapin, a former Orange County mayor and close friend of the family, said King “was willing to take on causes that other people would hesitate over because he believed that good government was important in real people’s lives. ... He was willing to bring his considerable talent to that cause and succeeded where others did not.”
Chris King said he was optimistic that a state Supreme Court now with a conservative majority would still uphold Fair Districts.
But if not, he said, “my father gave us the roadmap to right injustice. And others will have to carry the baton.”
A socially distanced “celebration of life” will be held at First Presbyterian Church of Orlando on Tuesday, Dec. 29 at 11 a.m., and will also be streamed online at www.FPCO.org/funeral.
