Frank Turner, who represented Howard County in the legislature for 24 years and was a business professor at Morgan State University for 41 years, died Friday in Columbia at 77. In 1994, Turner was the first African American elected to the General Assembly from Howard County.
Democrat Del. Vanessa Atterbeary announced his death on the floor of the Maryland House of Delegates.
Since his retirement from the legislature in 2019, Turner was a trustee at Howard Community College.
Turner’s longtime friend, Morgan colleague and political ally, C. Vernon Gray, who served 20 years on the Howard County Council as its first African American, remembers Frank as “a kind and gentle person who always greeted people with a warm and pleasant smile. He was a workaholic, whether in business, politics, or the legislature. Frank was a thoughtful, creative, and compassionate legislator, who always thought of the ways that he could make things better — his constituents and community, through meaningful bills or programs.
“As a friend of longstanding, I witnessed Frank’s ups and downs, but I never witnessed him complain, even though he had health challenges,” said Gray, who like Turner is a professor emeritus at Morgan. “He, somehow, always, maintained hope and made a way.”
Before his election to the House of Delegates, Turner was deputy campaign manager for Barbara Mikulski in her first run for the Senate in 1986 and served as her special assistant for small business while he continued to teach business law at Morgan.
In the House, according to his official biography, Turner served on several committees over the years, ending the last six years of his career as vice-chair of the Ways and Means Committee, now chaired by Howard County Del. Vanessa Atterbeary, who had known Frank since she was in elementary school and called him “Uncle Frank.” She said Turner referred to the panel as the “Ways and Schemes Committee.”
In 2007, House Speaker Michael Busch strong-armed Turner to head the Ways and Means financial resources subcommittee which handled gambling and casinos, a post Turner did not want. He sometimes found himself in floor debates defending gaming legislation he did not particularly like.
In a 2012 story in Maryland Reporter, Turner said that decades before, as a business professor at Morgan, he wrote an academic paper critical of casino gambling, and “I still believe they’re not great.”
Turner said in 2012 he took a tour of gambling operations in nearby West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, and “they all had Maryland license plates” in their parking lots.
“If we’re going to spend the money, we might as well spend it in Maryland,” Turner said.
Howard County Executive Calvin Ball called Turner his “dear friend” and “mentor.” “He truly lived a life dedicated to giving back to our community.”
“His legacy of advocacy and service has left an indelible imprint on our county and our state, and we are a better community because of his efforts.” Ball pointed to Turner’s help in getting state funding for numerous county projects, especially the Harriet Tubman Cultural Center, the former segregated high school that now has a room named in Turner’s honor.
Former Del. Frank Turner and Howard County Executive Calvin Ball walk a hall at the renovated Harriet Tubman Cultural Center, the county’s former Black high school where a room is named in Turner’s honor. Howard County Government photo.
In a Facebook post, Del. Jessica Feldmark of Howard County said Turner was “a tireless advocate for our community,” in particular Blandair Park where in 2014 the playing fields were dedicated in his honor.
Born in Mt. Pleasant, New York, Turner was a 1968 graduate of North Carolina College at Durham (now North Carolina Central University). He earned a law degree from the North Carolina Central University School of Law in 1973.
Turner leaves his wife, Kim, and four children.
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