Operations

Trucker Buddy founder Gary King dies

June 14, 2007

Trucker Buddy International founder Gary King died after an extended illness on Friday, June 8th at his home in Elkhorn, WI. A memorial service will be held Saturday, June 16

Wendy Leavitt

Trucker Buddy International founder Gary King died after an extended illness on Friday, June 8th at his home in Elkhorn, WI. A memorial service will be held Saturday, June 16, at the Haase-Derrick-Lockwood Funeral Home in Elkhorn.

King was born April 23, 1946, in Princeton, IN. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he drove a truck for more than 30 years. In 1992, King, an owner-operator with Dart Transit at the time, began writing postcards to school classrooms as he traveled the country. With the help of corporate sponsors, his work evolved into Trucker Buddy International, today a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping mentor schoolchildren via pen-pal relationships with professional truck drivers.

Since 1992, more than a million children have participated in the program, which can be accessed at www.truckerbuddy.org.

A memorial fund for the family has been established. Contributions can be sent to: Gary King Memorial Fund, c/o Monona State Bank, P.O. Box 6500, Monona, WI 53716.

About the Author

Wendy Leavitt

Wendy Leavitt joined Fleet Owner in 1998 after serving as editor-in-chief of Trucking Technology magazine for four years.

She began her career in the trucking industry at Kenworth Truck Company in Kirkland, WA where she spent 16 years—the first five years as safety and compliance manager in the engineering department and more than a decade as the company’s manager of advertising and public relations. She has also worked as a book editor, guided authors through the self-publishing process and operated her own marketing and public relations business.

Wendy has a Masters Degree in English and Art History from Western Washington University, where, as a graduate student, she also taught writing.