Dr. Thomas J. King, a former Georgetown professor, leading developmental biologist and resident of Alexandria, Va., died of cancer Oct. 25 at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital.

King became a biology professor at Georgetown in 1967 but left to become a division director at the National Cancer Institute, where he stayed until 1980. When the founder of Georgetown’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics died unexpectedly, King was called on to become its director, serving from 1981 to 1983.

Dr. Robert M. Veatch, Kennedy Institute Director from 1989-1996, and a professor of medical ethics at the Institute, described King as, “a dedicated and compassionate person who took over the leadership of the Kennedy Institute at a critical moment after the death of its founder, Andre Hellegers.”

Next, King accepted a position as a deputy director of Georgetown University’s Lombardi Cancer Research Center in 1983, where he served until his retirement in 1990. The Center’s current director, Dr. Lippman, said that, “Tom King was a distinguished scientist and a great leader of the Center. He was of extraordinary help to me in getting the Lombardi Center back on track when I came to Georgetown.

“His incisive judgment, combined with grace and humor were an example to me in how to encourage the most from colleagues. He will be missed.”

Before coming to Georgetown as a professor, King conducted groundbreaking work cloning frogs at the Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia in 1952. Along with fellow scientist Robert W. Briggs, King was successful in transferring the nucleus of one cell into that of another cell.

This resulted in the cloning of a tadpole, which paved the way for the later cloning of insects, fish and, most recently, mammals. He and Briggs became the first Americans to receive the Charles-Leopold Mayer Prize of the Academie de Sciences, Institut de France, the highest honor of the French Academy.

King was born in New York, graduated from Fordham University and earned master’s and doctorate degrees in cell physiology at New York University. He served as a Medical Administrator Corps officer in the Pacific during the Second World War, as well as as an instructor in the Army Medical Technicians School.

King is survived by his second wife, Hannah May Lyddane of Alexandria, as well as a daughter from his first marriage, three stepchildren and two grandchildren. Marion Emerson King, his first wife, died in 1989.