Born in China and raised in the Territory of Hawaii, Samuel Pailthorpe King was the part-Hawaiian son of the territorial Governor Samuel Wilder King, a grandson of the minister of the interior of the former Republic of Hawaii and a great-grandson of a Supreme Court justice of the former kingdom of Hawaii. Until his death in 2010, he resided in Honolulu with his wife, Anne. He is survived by Anne, their childred Samuel P. King, Jr., Louise King Lanzilotti and Charlotte King Stretch and six grandchildren.