Charles W. Turner, Jr.

Dr. Charles W. Turner, Jr., became a world renowned dairy scientist during his 45-year tenure at the University of Missouri that started in the 1920s and ended with his retirement in the 1960s.

He was born Jan. 20, 1897 in Chicago and developed an interest in agriculture early in life working summers on his brother’s farm.

Dr. Turner was twice widowed and all wives are deceased. His three children, Charles W. Turner III, Barbara Baur, and Marilyn Turner Dahl, all hold degrees from the University of Missouri. Mrs. Dahl, who lives in Springfield, Ill., is the only surviving child.

A 1919 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Turner received a masters degree at MU in 1920 and then returned to Wisconsin for his doctorate which he received in 1926.

Several of Dr. Turner’s peers and former students have written supporting his nomination to receive the Pioneer Leadership Award. One such supporter is L.B. Daniels, University of Arkansas professor of animal science, and the following paragraphs are taken from his letter.

“Dr. Turner was trained in the area of dairy cattle breeding and genetics but most of his research career was related to the endocrine effects on milk secretion and physiology of milk secretion. His two major areas of research were pioneering the role of pituitary hormones on milk secretion and milk let down and the metabolic physiology of the mammary gland. His studies with hormones of both the anterior and posterior pituitary gland and their role on milk secretion and milk let down, lead to our present understanding of milk synthesis and its excretion from the mammary gland.

Dr. Turner devoted time and energy to the understanding of the metabolic physiology of the mammary gland. His research relative to iodinated casein and its enhancement of milk secretion when fed to dairy cattle pioneered research which led others to develop our present use of bovine somatropin hormone in increasing milk production. Even though Dr. Turner did not use BST, he established the basic principle while pioneering the early research in the metabolic physiology of the mammary gland.

I do not know of anyone who is more qualified to receive the Pioneer Leadership Award than Dr. Turner. He was truly a pioneer giant in the development of the dairy industry in Missouri, nationally, and internationally.”

Another supporter of Dr. Turner is Ralph Williams another University of Arkansas professor and extension dairy specialist. His comments included the following paragraphs.

“Most everyone that knew Prof. A.C. Ragsdale has heard him say that one of the most fortunate things he did for the University of Missouri and the dairy industry was hiring Dr. Charles W. Turner.

Dr. Turner was a great teacher, his classes were popular with dairy and animal science students. Biology and physiology majors were often enrolled in his endocrinology and milk secretion courses. A great number of students from many states and other countries attended the University of Missouri to study under Dr. Turner.

The knowledge and wisdom of this pioneer scholar has been multiplied many fold through his students who became teachers. Through his books “The Mammary Gland” and “The Physiology of Milk Secretion”, his great number of publications in research bulletins and scientific journals, Dr. Turner generously shared his research data with scientists and dairy farmers alike.

I feel the dairy industry owes an immeasurable debt to Dr. Turner for his scientific and professional contributions. I do not know of a more worthy candidate for the Pioneer Dairy Leadership Award.”

Curtis W. Richardson, a retired professor and extension dairy specialist at Oklahoma State University, took the opportunity to write in support of Dr. Turner’s nomination.

He said, “It was my privilege to take courses taught by Dr. Turner during my PhD studies at the University of Missouri during the late 1950s. He was one of the most inspiring and dedicated teachers that I had the opportunity to study under during my undergraduate and graduate years in college. He had the ability to get you excited and involved in the subject matter as he was. I can still see his eyes sparkling as he took us along with him on a journey through the process of milk secretion in the dairy cow.

Dr. Turner left behind a legacy of outstanding teachers and researchers throughout the United States as well as other countries around the world.”

Still another nominator noted, “On Dr. Turner’s retirement some of his more than 125 former graduate students established a scholarship in his name at the University of Missouri. These students, and many post doctorals, represented countries all around the world.”