Editorial
It is with a profound sense of loss that we announce the passing of Brian D. King, a regular columnist who wrote for Kootenai Journal since October 2023. Brian was an incredible man of great intelligence, beauty, and faith. His dear wife Toni passed away only weeks before his own passing. He will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.
Since Brian did not want a traditional obituary written, nor the details of the illness that eventually took his life shared publicly, we honor his life by republishing his introductory editorial and sharing a few photos of his time with us.
Rest in peace, my friend.
Brian D. King – Educator, Founder, and Director of Salt and Light, a New Paradigm in Education.
Mr. King is a visionary, a teacher of teachers, a polymath, and a passionate educator. In the late 1970s, he knew he wanted to create and build a school to develop the kind of people that became what we now know as the Greatest Generation.
Over the next four decades, King worked on improving his own skill sets, values, and abilities. He did so by gaining content knowledge, utilizing both formal education, and direct tutelage of masters in their field by working side-by-side with them. King pursued fields he believed would serve as engines for making the fundamentals of education real, relevant, and inspiring for students. King honed his skills while working in positions spanning multiple industries including, aviation tool engineering, farming, dairy ranching, gunsmithing, and tractor machinery.
King earned a BA in Industrial Arts in 1980 from California State University, Long Beach, and an MS in Agriculture Science in 1984 from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He is a Certified Firearms Instructor in rifle, pistol, and shotgun, and also has an Archery Instructor Certification. Additionally, he is a subject matter expert in rappelling, agriculture, primitive skills, and outdoor recreation.
King’s time, energy, and passion have led him to explore how diverse core routines, and emotions, can change, build, and repair the structures of the human brain.
For the past two decades, his private school, currently known as Salt and Light, has been the proving ground for providing students, from elementary through post-secondary, the tools to pursue the future they envision—a school where the students don’t want to leave at the end of the day.
King currently resides in Kootenai County with his wife Toni along with their numerous and beloved pets. He will be a regular columnist with Kootenai Journal, producing “Greatest Generation 2.0” which focuses on how he is replicating the training, education, and life habits of joyful, prosperous people from past generations in order to beget a new generation of successful Americans.
