02/13/2023
28 Days of Black History, Day 12 - Dr. John Quill Taylor King, Sr.
Dr. John Quill Taylor King, Sr. was born on September 25, 1921. He moved to Austin with his mother and stepfather, Charles King. Dr. King graduated from L. C. Anderson High School in Austin in 1936 at age fifteen. Dr. King attended Fisk University ( )in Nashville, Tennessee, obtaining a BA degree in 1941. Dr. King also attended the Landig College of Mortuary Science in Houston, Texas, and graduated in 1942. He was drafted into the Army shortly after his graduation from Landig during WWII, and served from 1942-1946, obtaining the rank of Captain while serving in the Pacific Theater. He was discharged from active status in 1946, but continued to serve in the reserves afterwards, obtaining the rank of major general. After WWII, he returned to his education, attending Samuel Huston College ( ) where he graduated with a B.S. degree in 1947. He received his M.S. degree from DePaul University in 1950, and his Ph.D. in mathematics and statistics in 1957 from the University of Texas. Dr. King served as a math professor for almost thirteen years at Samuel Huston College, then Huston-Tillotson College after the merger in 1952. He then served as dean of Huston-Tillotson starting in 1960, a position he held until being appointed as President of the college in 1965. He served as President of Huston-Tillotson until 1988, when he retired and was named Chancellor and President emeritus. He held a Phi Beta Kappa key and was a life member of the Gamma Eta Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity ( ). He also belonged to the Gamma Gamma Boulé of Sigma Pi Phi and Phi Delta Kappa fraternities, as well as the Epsilon Nu Delta mortuary fraternity. He achieved the rank of Master Mason at seventeen years of age at Lyons, Jr. Lodge No. 290, he was also a member of Cheops Temple No. 200. Dr. King passed away on August 3, 2011.
