OBITUARIES: DECATUR: Al King, 92, worked 60-plus years in landscape architecture

In the 1950s, anybody in Georgia could say they were a landscape architect.

Training and experience didn’t matter. They could show up, hang out a sign, and go to work.

Al King thought that belittled his profession, one he studied in college. He wrote a bill that set requirements for landscape architects to work in the state. He and then-Rep. Garland Byrd ushered the legislation through the General Assembly.

“Daddy help set up the credentials,” said his son, Robert I. King of Johns Creek. “Before that bill, anybody could go out and start putting down plats.”

Alexander “Al” D. King, 92, of Decatur died Friday at Lanier Park Hospital from complications of a heart attack. The funeral is 1 p.m. today at Decatur First United Methodist Church. A.S. Turner & Sons is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. King’s career in landscape architecture spanned more than six decades. As a partner and private business owner, he helped build and design subdivisions across DeKalb County such as Sagamore Hills and Toney Valley.

“He did a lot of the subdivision design in the 1950s and 1960s,” his son said. “He would lay out the whole subdivision. I used to go with him and hold the dummy end of the tape. I actually dug some holes, but hated it ‘cause I was forced to do it. Now those subdivisions are part of the area’s history.”

Mr. King worked in Nashville before moving to Atlanta in 1947.

Here, he worked for the late landscape architect Eugene Martini for several years, then went into business with Ansel J. Poe.

“Daddy would draw the project up and A.J. would lay it out,” his son said. “I worked for them between my junior and senior year in high school and some in college. I never worked so hard for so little pay.”

Daughter Mary Carolyn Davis of Gainesville said her father thought the licensing of landscape architects would legitimize the business.

“He felt like landscape architects needed something to separate themselves from anybody who had a crew and could dig a hole,” his daughter said. “There was more to the profession than that.”

After leaving private practice, Mr. King managed developments across the Southeast for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

His twilight employment years were spent as a community planner for the construction of Hurlburt Field at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

He served as president of the state chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Mr. King was a member of the Decatur Masonic Lodge and Civitan Club and a longtime member of Decatur First United Methodist Church.

Additional survivors include a sister, Mary Critchell of Port Washington, N.Y.; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.