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 Herb King, a Hilton Head Island developer, died Thursday in an Augusta, Ga., hospital after being severely burned last month in a fire near his home, a hospital spokeswoman said.
King, 57, had remained in critical condition since being airlifted March 24 to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta. He was burned over 90 percent of his body. Fire officials think he was fueling a fire pit when he caught fire.
King was born in 1952, one of eightchildren, in Louisville, Ky., he said in a 1986 interview. He was a Golden Gloves flyweight boxer in his youth before becoming interested in business.
He graduated from Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green in 1976 with a degree in business. While in college, King sold Bibles and textbooks door-to-door for five years with the Southwestern Book Company of Louisville. He worked his way up to management and trained other salesmen.
Several people he recruited and managed at the book company moved with him to Hilton Head to help with his many business ventures, friends said.
Hilton Head Mayor Tom Peeples, a longtime friend, said King was the life of the party and had a joke for every occasion.
"He was one of those guys that loved to play around and have a good time, but was a really good businessman as well," he said before King's death.
Peeples said King "didn't know a stranger" and made quick friends with everyone.
More than 200 attended a prayer vigil for King last week at a friend's home. Many visited and posted messages of condolences on a Web site created to give updates of his condition while he was in the hospital.
King was a Realtor and business owner before becoming a developer. He and several associates created and later sold Nexus Properties in 1984, and he helped create the Heavenly Ham franchise. King had a long list of companies and developments to his credit. He helped establish several restaurants and stores, and he developed the 70,000-square-foot Circle Center on the island's south end.
After completing a venture, he would parlay the profits into the next. He always had another plan to make successful, friends said.
"Life is too interesting and has too many possibilities for me to even want to have it all planned out," King said in the 1986 interview.
His latest company was Principal Developers, located on Hilton Head.
In several interviews, King said he enjoyed scuba diving, golf, tennis and racquetball.
King is survived by his wife, Julie, and his teen-aged son and daughter, Katherine and Riley.
As of 7 p.m. Thursday, no information about funeral services had been released.
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