Reatha King Biography, Age, Family, Children, Height, and Net Worth

Who is Reatha King?

Reatha Clark King is an American chemist and previous vice president of the General Mills Corporation. She is moreover the former president, executive director, and chairman of the board of trustees of the General Mills Foundation, and the philanthropic foundation of General Mills, Inc.

Scientific career

King labored for five years as a research chemist for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington D.C. from 1963 to 1968. She was hired by George T. Armstrong as the first African American lady chemist to work in the agency. King used her skills for both bomb and flame calorimetry.

Most of her work there dealt with measuring the accurate heat of the formation of gaseous fluorine compounds. She received a Meritorious Publication Award for a paper on fluoride flame calorimetry. Her research became very important to the NASA space program and the techniques and mechanisms she created for flame fluorine calorimetry are still used.

How old is Reatha King?

King was born in Pavo, Georgia, the United States on April 11, 1938, as Reatha Belle Clark is aged 83 as of 2021. She shares her birthday with different famous people such as Toddy Smith, Maddie Lambert, Jeremy Clarkson, Jennifer Esposito, Dele Alli, Bill Irwin, Carl Franklin, David Banner, Ethel Kennedy, Jim Lauderdale, Joel Grey, Johnny Messner, among others.

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Reatha King Family

Who are Reatha King’s parents?

Reatha Belle Clark was born to Willie B. Clark and Ola Mae Watts Campbell. Her father was a sharecropper while her mother only had third-grade schooling and labored as a maid. Clark went to stay together with her maternal grandmother who lived by herself while she was young and her mother and father later divorced.

Does Reatha King have siblings?

King was born in a family of 3 girls and was the second born. She has two sisters.

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Reatha King Education

Clark started elementary school in a one-room school from grade 1 to 7 at Mt. Zion Baptist. This was a colored church and she was taught by Florence Frazier. She later joined the school in Coolidge, Georgia, and went to high school in Moultrie, Georgia. Reatha graduated from high school for Negro Youth in 1954, and Brown v. Board of Education determined segregated schools were unlawful the same year. Clark was the valedictorian of her class.

Later she was recruited to enroll in Clark College in Atlanta and at the beginning enrolled as a home economics major. The head of the chemistry department of the college, Alfred Spriggs, encouraged her to become a research chemist. She received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and mathematics from the college. Clark obtained a fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation from 1958 to 1960 after she was encouraged to apply by Spriggs. She later acquired a master of science degree n chemistry in 1960 after the fellowship supported her work at the University of Chicago.

Reatha persevered to study with advisor Ole J. Kleppa and obtained her Ph.D. degree in thermochemistry from the University of Chicago in 1962. After her marriage, she earned a Master’s in business administration in finance management from Columbia University.

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Reatha King Spouses

Clark met N. Judge King while in Chicago and they married. The couple had two children while they were working in Washington, D.C. They currently reside in their home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Reatha King Children

Clark and her spouse, King have two children collectively. Both the children, a son, and a daughter were born in Washington, D.C.

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Reatha King Height

King has a standing top of 1.67 m adding up to a weight of 72 kg.

Reatha King Career

After her husband accepted a role at Nassau Community College, Garden City, New York, she moved there along with her family. She then obtained an assistant professorship at York College, City University of New York. She served as a professor of chemistry from 1968 to 1977, and associate dean for the Division of Natural Science & Mathematics from 1970 to 1974. Additionally, she became an associate dean for academic affairs from 1974 to 1977.

King moved to Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, to become president of Metropolitan State University. There she labored from 1977 to 1988, assisting to substantially enlarging the university. She additionally promoted the involvement of minorities and ladies in higher education. King’s spouse joined the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) as a research chemist.

Entrepreneurship Career

Reatha was employed by General Mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to carry out two roles in 1988. She became the vice-chairman of the General Mills Corporation and president and executive director of the General Mills Foundation. King retained those positions from 1988 to 2002 and was elected as chairman of the board of trustees of General Mills Foundation in 2002. She worked in this position for one year and retired completely from General Mills in 2003.

The General Mills Foundation initially set up in 1954, has been active locally and nationally in philanthropic and community service under her leadership. Additionally, she has worked on the boards of different diverse corporations, including ExxonMobil, Wells Fargo & Company: Department 56; Minnesota Mutual Companies, and the H.B. Fuller Company.

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King additionally has served with nonprofits, such as the International Trachoma Initiative, the Council on Foundations, Allina Health, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the National Association of Corporate. She has moreover served as a trustee with Clark Atlanta University and is a Life Trustee for the University of Chicago. King is presently a member of the American Council on Education and the Executive Leadership Council in Washington, D.C.

Achievements and Awards

Reatha has received honorary degrees and different numerous awards including

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Minneapolis-St. Paul Alumnae Chapter, 1979.
Defender of Democracy Award from the Washington, DC. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation.
The Exceptional Black Scientist Award from CIBA-GEIGY Corporation, 1984.
One of Ebony magazine’s Top 50 Black Executives in Corporate America, 1992.
Louis W. Hill, Jr. Fellow in Philanthropy at the Hubert H. Humphrey Center of the University of Minnesota, 2004.
Director of the Year from the National Association of Corporate Directors, 2004.
International Citizen Award, 2013, from the International Leadership Institute (ILI), Minneapolis, MN.
Governor’s Civil Rights Legend Award, 2019.

Reatha King’s Net Worth

Professional business executive and scientist, Reatha King is among the richest business executives. She has a predicted net worth of $1.5 million as of 2021.