MORRIS COUNTY — Aaron King has been a detective in the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office for about only a year. But he is already earning accolades for his lifelong commitment to the youth of Morris County.
King, 28, is the 2017 Humanitarian Award Recipient of the George Gramby Observance Committee. The award will be presented Saturday, July 8 at 4:00 p.m. at the annual George Gramby Drug & Alcohol Prevention Day at George Gramby Memorial Park in Morristown.
Gramby founded a Morristown drug and alcohol referral center in 1984 called Beginnings and worked tirelessly on behalf of area youth. Following his death in 1992, the Observance Committee dedicated itself to fulfilling Gramby’s wishes by heightening community awareness about the disease of addiction.
“The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office is proud that Detective Aaron King is being honored for his humanitarian service by the George Gramby Observance Committee,” said Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp. “Detective King has shown his commitment to serving the community as a volunteer and is a positive role model for the youth of Morris County.
King, who was born in Morristown, gained prominence as a track star in high school and later at the University of Connecticut where he was All Big East Conference in the decathlon. King remains a volunteer coach for many aspiring track athletes, but his reach goes much further than that,
“I stress the importance of community involvement, education and the need to go to college,” he says. King volunteers with the Neighborhood House, a longstanding Morristown institution that works with youth, and Freedom House, a Hunterdon County residential substance abuse treatment center for men. King is also a Mason and volunteers with that organization’s empowerment programs.
King said he was surprised to be selected for the award, noting his young age.
But age was clearly not a factor with the Observance Committee. In a recent letter informing him of the award, the committee said King was selected because he exemplifies George Gramby’s spirit and passion and because of his “willingness to help others.”
