Donald King was born in Port Huron, Michigan in 1949, the youngest of six children of Ernestine Knox-King. He began working in architecture at the age of seventeen and worked his way, in various firms, through undergraduate and graduate studies with the help of an AIA/Ford Foundation Scholarship. He received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with a concentration in Interior Architecture, from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Donald King is President and CEO of Donald King Architects, a 28 member firm in Seattle. He has nearly 40 years of professional experience in the planning and design of human service facilities and affordable housing and has led DKA in the planning and design of over 350 successful projects. He has been a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) since 1979 and was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2000. He is one of approximately 2,200 members of the prestigious College of Fellows and one of approximately 50 African American Fellows. His writings on planning, design and architectural practice have been published in numerous books and periodicals.