NINA DAVIS KING ’ 63 (’ 67 MA) 1941–2010
Newspaper Book Editor Appreciated Literature, Dismissed Stereotype
Post obituary. She is credited with
bringing changes to The Post’s Book World
section when she became editor in 1988,
Nina Davis King ’ 63 spent her career as book editor for
Ne wsday and then The Washington
Post. She knew some people
imagined it to be a cushy job,
with her and her staff spending
long, languid afternoons reading
books and eating bonbons, an
image far from the truth.
TODD CROSS / THE WASHINGTON POST
In the Post obituary,
Marie Arana, King’s
deputy editor and eventu-
al successor, said: “What
she brought to Book
“Mine is a great job, but not
that great,” she once remarked.
But colleagues regarded King —
who died May 6, the day before
she would have turned 69 — as
“an adventurous editor, always
willing to try something new,” as
World was a very sharp
appreciation for literary
fiction and literary biogra-
phy. She had exquisite
tastes in literature, but she
was also remarkably well-
grounded in the book
industry as a whole.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning critic
Michael Dirda described her in a
Three years before that move, she was diag-
nosed with Parkinson’s disease but devoted
herself fully to her work, deter-
mined not to let illness be the focus of her life.
Not until 1999 did the progress of her disease
force her to resign as editor. She became a
contributing editor.
A fan of the mystery novel and a world
traveler, she combined those interests when she
co-wrote Crimes of the Scene: A Mystery Novel
Guide for the International Traveler with Robin
Winks. It was a nominee for the Agatha Award,
named for mystery writer Agatha Christie.
Davis was born in the Panama Canal Zone,
where her father was a Navy rear admiral. She
lived abroad much of her childhood and grad-
uated from high school in Paris. King, who
majored in French as an undergraduate at
UNC and also earned a master’s degree in
comparative literature in 1967, graduated Phi
Beta Kappa. She earned a doctorate at Wayne
State University.
Nina Davis King ’ 63 was known as “an
adventurous editor, always willing to try
something new,” as one book critic put it.
Co-workers said she appreciated literature
but also knew the book industry well.
King was book editor
of Newsday for 15 years
before joining The Post.
in
memoriam
— Sally Walters
Evans serves as chair of Garris Evans Lumber Co., a
family-owned business. u Jane Edwards Hauser
(’ 56 AB) of Chapel Hill will participate in the 2010
National Storytelling Conference in Los Angeles on
July 30. Hauser, selected as the performer for the
Southeast region, will tell a personal tale about the Ku
Klux Klan. Story, page 63. u Wilbur David Jones Jr.
(’ 55 AB) of Wilmington contributed to production of
the Steven Spielberg HBO project The Pacific through
his 1998 book, Gyrene, The World War II United
States Marine, which was used as a training manual
to prepare the civilian actors to portray 1940s
Marines convincingly. u Dr. J. Michael Lazarus (’ 59
BSPHR) of Wellesley Hills, Mass., has retired as chief
medical officer at Fresenius Medical Care, which
established the J. Michael Lazarus Lectureship Award
to honor his pioneering work in the field of dialysis.
The endowment was made possible by the National
Kidney Foundation. u James Monroe Long (’ 59 AB,
’ 63 LLB) of Blanch is acting district attorney for District 9A, serving Person and Caswell counties. u
Anna Herring Massengill (’ 58 AB, ’ 62 MEd) has written Storm Over Guantanamo, a work of fiction and
suspense set in South Korea and Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. u William Randolph Nichols (’ 59 ABEd, ’ 65
MEd) of Chesapeake, Va., has retired after 15 years
as superintendent of the Chesapeake public schools.
Nichols began his career with the school division in
1959 as teacher and track coach at Great Bridge
High School. u Charles Reid Perry III (’ 56 BSBA) of
Hilton Head Island, S.C., served as grand marshal at
the 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Perry is a longtime
supporter of many community organizations and a
founder of the Island Recreation Center. u James
Horner Winston (’ 54, ’ 55 BSBA) of Jacksonville, Fla.,
has received the 2010 Bernard V. Gregory Servant
Leader Award from HandsOn Jacksonville for a lifetime of service to the community. Winston is president of Citadel Life and Health Insurance Co., general partner of White Oak Land Co., president of
Omega Insurance Co. and chair-director of LPMC, a
private investment company. Winston served on the
GAA Board of Directors (1980-83). u Marvin Zelen
(’ 51 MA) of Boston has received the Medal of Honor
from the American Cancer Society. Zelen, professor
of statistical science at the Harvard School of Public
Health and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was
recognized for his successful effort to introduce statistical science as a pre-eminent component of the
national program in cancer clinical trials.
; obituaries
Ike Franklin Andrews (’ 52, ’ 50 BSCOM; ’ 52 LLBJD),
84, of Pittsboro; May 10, 2010. A former N.C. state
senator, Andrews served six terms as a member of
the U.S. House. He also served in the Army. Story,
page 66. u Robert Underwood Andrews (’ 55 AB),
81, of Granby, Conn.; March 27, 2009. Andrews was
active in the theater and was owner of the Canton
Show Shop in the ’50s. Most recently, he was a substitute teacher. u Russell Ward Arnold (’ 52 MACA),
87, of Roper; Feb. 14, 2010. Arnold was an artist
who, at one time, was an art professor at Atlantic
Christian College. u J. Hunter Ballew (’ 53 ABEd, ’ 58
MEd, ’ 65 PhD), 78, of Durham; March 11, 2010.
Ballew retired after more than 40 years as a faculty
member in the School of Education. His specialization was teaching mathematics. Among his many
academic activities, he was editor of The High
School Journal and was founding director of the
Center for Mathematics and Science Education. His
book, Teaching Children Mathematics, was used
widely. In 1997, he received the W. W. Rankin Award
for excellence in mathematics education, the highest
award given by the N.C. Council of Teachers of
Mathematics. He served in the Navy as a meteorolo-gist. At UNC, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and
belonged to Lambda Chi Alpha. u H. Paul Behnken
(’ 51 MS), 84, of Belleair Bluffs, Fla.; Jan. 21, 2010. At
one time in his career, Behnken was director of data
processing at a Florida junior college. u Elmer C.
Bland (’ 54 BSBA), 86, of Newbury, Ohio; Feb. 22,
2010. Bland was inventory supervisor for a national
automotive parts company. He served in the Army in
WWII. At UNC, he belonged to Beta Gamma Sigma,
Alpha Kappa Psi and Phi Beta Kappa. u E. Robert
Borroff (’ 56 AB), 75, of Pittsford, N. Y.; Aug. 6, 2009.
Borroff retired as a sales agent with a real estate
firm. At UNC, he belonged to Chi Psi and AFROTC. u
James Raymond Brandon (’ 51, ’ 50 BSGEO), 82, of
Cape Carteret; March 30, 2010. Brandon retired as
director of the mine and quarry division of the N.C.
Department of Labor. In WWII, he served in the Navy.
He was a master gardener. u Ernest Raeford “Pete”
Carraway Sr. (’ 50 BSCOM), 91, of Greenville; March
17, 2010. A longtime resident of Greenville, Carraway
retired as a supervisor from the N.C. Department of
Revenue. He was president of the State Employees
Association of North Carolina and chair of the N.C.
State Personnel Commission for several years. For
43 years, he was a volunteer in Greenville youth
GAA FILES
