Born: May 27, 1929

Died: February 28, 2010

Services: A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, March 5, at Christ Church Anglican, 5811 North 20th Street, Phoenix, (602) 955-2040.

Visitation:

William Cochrane Turner went to be with the Lord on February 28, 2010, in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was born May 27, 1929, in Red Oak, Iowa, to Josephine Cochrane Turner and J. Lyman Turner. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Cynthia Dunbar Turner, and his children, Scott (Leslie), and Douglas (Bobbie), and grandchildren, Colin, Derek, Adam, Benjamin and Emily. He was preceded in death by his son, Craig Dunbar Turner.

William (“Bill”) Turner was a corporate advisor who had a major impact on the way multinational corporations pursue global expansion.

In 1974, Ambassador Turner was appointed by Richard Nixon to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). His term coincided with one of the organization’s greatest challenges: the Arab Oil Crisis. The oil embargo and subsequent spike in energy prices had thrown the Western world into crisis, exposing the huge security risk in which oil-consuming countries found themselves and creating a major recession. The U.S. Mission to the OECD, led by Amb. Turner under Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, created the International Energy Agency (IEA), whose mission was to help prepare the U.S. and other OECD countries for future energy challenges.

In the 1970s, U.S. multinationals were expanding rapidly abroad, but were also experiencing a steep learning curve in their global business management. On leaving the OECD in 1977, Amb. Turner was engaged by IBM World Trade to join the company’s European advisory board, which was made up of business and political leaders from multiple countries. Sensing the immense strategic value of bringing together knowledgeable, influential thought leaders to advise senior U.S. executives on regional and global markets, Amb. Turner launched a seminal study to evaluate best practices in the use of international advisory councils, which had been formed by only a handful of multinationals prior to that time.

As the emerging expert on the subject, Amb. Turner was subsequently hired to establish advisory boards for U.S. multinationals such as General Electric, AT&T, Avon, and Caterpillar. He also served on a number of corporate boards, including Goodyear, Salomon Brothers, and Nabisco.

Although his career interests remained global throughout his life, Bill also served as a committed civic leader in Phoenix. Among his Phoenix-based pursuits, he was a trustee and former chairman of the board for the Thunderbird School of Global Management, where he was instrumental in developing the institution to maintain its leadership position in international management education. Bill also served as a director of First National Bank of Arizona, which was acquired by First Interstate, now part of Wells Fargo. More recently, he served on the boards of Microtest and Rural/Metro Corporation. Bill was active in the Arizona Republican Party.

Bill had a great appreciation for music and the arts, and was a leader in the development of the classical music community in Phoenix as the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s. He served as president of the Phoenix Symphony in its early days, was a co-founder of the Phoenix Chamber Music Society, and served on the board of the Heard Museum. Bill was also an active member of the Bohemian Club, based in San Francisco.

Bill also had a passion for conservation, serving on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund and the Conservation Foundation in Washington, D.C. He also pursued a lifelong love of international relations through his more than two-decade membership in the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and the Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington, D.C.

Early in his career, Bill was involved in a broad range of other economic, educational and cultural initiatives at a national level including: member of the U.S. Advisory Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs (by presidential appointment), and member of the National Review Board for the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange between East and West (by appointment of the U.S. secretary of state). He was the recipient of the East-West Center’s Distinguished Service Award.

Additional Arizona-based positions included director of the Executive Committee and chairman of the International Committee of the Arizona Economic Council. Bill also chaired the Joint Economic Development Committee and the Crippled Children Services board. He was a founding Director of COMPAS, the Combined Metropolitan Phoenix Arts and Sciences organization.

Upon graduating from Northwestern University in 1952, Bill moved to Phoenix to start Western Management Consultants, Inc., an international economic and marketing consulting firm that was eventually bought by Marsh & McClennan. His firm’s economic study for Phoenix/Maricopa County in 1960 helped guide growth in the region for many years.

Throughout the latter part of his career, Amb. Turner served as co-chairman of the advisory board of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), an interdenominational Christian missionary movement; and on the board of directors of Mercy Ships, which operates hospital ships serving some of the world’s poorest people.

Condolences may be emailed to WCTcondolences@gmail.com

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made “In memory of William C. Turner” to Hospice of the Valley, 1510 E. Flower St., Phoenix, Arizona 85014, www.hov.org, (602) 530-6900; or Mercy Ships, P.O. Box 2020, Garden Valley, Texas 75771, www.mercyships.org, (903) 939-7000.