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Arthur S. King served as Soils Extension Specialist at Oregon State University from 1930 until his retirement in 1972. King graduated from Oregon State Agricultural College in 1928 with a BS degree in agriculture. He completed a MS degree in soils at Oregon State in 1930. In September of 1928 King was appointed to a Teaching Fellowship in the Department of Soils. He took a leave from that position from June to December 1929 to serve as District Agricultural Extension Agent for Baker, Union and Wallowa Counties. King returned to campus in January 1930 and assumed his Fellowship until June 1930. King was the first person to be appointed as a full time Soils Extension Specialist for Oregon in 1930. King took a leave of absence from July of 1952 to July of 1954 and worked for the National Security Agency in Washington, D.C.

King was long associated with the Oregon Water Resource Congress, serving as secretary from 1943 to 1949. He was known nationally for his work to improve soil and water resources through irrigation and land drainage as well as the development of guidelines for application of fertilizers and lime. Arthur Solomon King was born September 13, 1906, and was raised on a farm north of Corvallis. He died in October 1972.