James C. King earned his B.A. (1949), M.A. (1950), and Ph.D. (1954) from The George Washington University and is Professor Emeritus of German. As a student he was prepared in linguistics by Professor Edward H. Sehrt, who taught at GW from 1925-1953, serving as Professor of German and Chairman of the Germanic Languages and Literature Department.

After teaching French, German, and Latin at the St. Albans School for Boys in Washington, Professor King joined the faculty of GW in 1955. He became Professor Emeritus in 1991. In 1960-61 he collaborated with Siegfried H. Muller of Adelphi University in establishing and directing the Languages-of-the-World Archives under a contract with the U.S. Office of Education. In 1962 Professor King was appointed deputy member of the Committee on International Exchange of Persons.

He also represented the American Council of Learned Societies in selecting American scholars for lectureships and research opportunities abroad under the Fulbright-Hays Program. In the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Professor King directed research on Old High German language and literature, and the linguistic analysis of modern German.

Professor King belonged to the American Goethe Society, Linguistic Society of America, and the Mediaeval Academy of America. He served as the first president of the D.C. Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German (1959-61). From 1964-66 he was president of GW's Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

After retirement, Professor King donated the official two millionth volume to the Gelman Library in 2001. The volume, An Illustrated Atlas; Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of the United States, and the Adjacent Countries by T.G. Bradford dates from 1838 and shows the individual states, territories, and major cities of the United States, with maps of Canada and the West Indies.