J. King Cruger passed away on March 15, 2021 in Naples, Florida. King was born in New York City on June 18, 1941, and was raised in Fall River. He spent many of his memorable early summers in Westport Harbor. Proud member of the Newport Yacht Club. He attended De La Salle Academy in Newport, RI. King graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1963 and always loved his alma mater. He loved “ND” sports and always looked forward to his next Notre Dame reunion. King’s love of travel helped him find his dream job as a foreign correspondent. While traveling in Europe in 1968, King applied to the Stars and Stripes Newspaper in Darmstadt, Germany. He was hired on the spot and from then on resided in Europe until he moved back to the United States thirty years later. King worked for The Stars and Stripes in their Germany headquarters, and then as the bureau chief for the RAF Mildenhall, England and Naples and Aviano, Italy offices. Throughout his tenure, King traveled the world which made him very happy. He loved to share all his wonderful stories with his many friends over a nice cold beer. King had an incredible love of reading and thus had a mind full of an array of knowledge. He would read away a 500 page book in a day. King usually had a newspaper or book in his hand, and in later years an iPad. When he lived in England, he loved nothing more than to go to Fleet Street in London after midnight on Saturday night and buy all five of the Sunday papers. That Sunday was then the ideal day for him. King will always be remembered as a consummate gentleman and a kind man who loved to have a conversation with anyone. King spent the last 20 years with his cherished longtime companion Darcy Pavlick in both Naples, FL and his treasured Newport, RI. King will be forever and very much missed. He is survived by Darcy; daughters Courtenay Cruger and Vanessa Cruger White; and his granddaughters Saige Cruger White and Paisley Cruger White. King was predeceased by his parents John and Maureen Cruger. A celebration of life will be held this summer.

On behalf of the members of Newport Yacht Club and our staff, I would like to express our sincerest condolences to his family.