Item Tape R-15989 - [Saskatchewan Government Agriculture Conference 1985]

E.K. (Ted) Turner was born on the family farm near Maymont, Saskatchewan on April 6, 1927, to Thomas and Jessie Turner. He was the youngest of five children. Turner attended school at Maymont. He later attended the School of Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan and earned a Diploma in Agriculture in 1948. He married Melville (Mel) Bright in 1950.

After graduating, Turner returned to the farm and was active in the Maymont Agricultural Society, the Young Farmers Club and the local district of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. With the Wheat Pool, he subsequently was elected to the Pool committee (1951), was appointed as Delegate for District 16 (1957), was elected as Director (1960), appointed as First Vice-President (1966) and appointed as President (1969). He remained as President until January, 1987 when he resigned to serve as Executive Director of the newly-formed Prairie Pools Incorporated. He served as Executive Director until the closure of the Regina office on March 31, 1989.

Turner served as director for a number of companies that were Pool subsidiaries or were invested in by the Pool. These included Philom Bios Inc., Bioriginal Food and Science Corp., Genex Swine Group and the Nutraceutical Network of Canada. He also served on a variety of advisory boards to the Government of Canada on the subjects of international trade and trade relating to agriculture, including the International Trade Advisory Committee (ITAC) and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations. Additionally, he served on the Advisory Committee of the Canadian Wheat Board between 1969 and 1982.

In 1989, Turner was appointed as the tenth Chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan, and served as Chancellor until 1995. He was heavily involved in fundraising for the University, co-chairing the University of Saskatchewan Agriculture Building Capital Campaign and the 'First and Best' campaign. He also served on the boards of several University of Saskatchewan subsidiary agencies, primarily those with agricultural aspects.

Turner was a member of and volunteered for various organizations, including the Rotary Club of Regina, the Hospitals of Regina Foundation, the Wascana Golf and Country Club, and Wesley United Church, Regina.

Honours bestowed upon Turner include: Member of the Order of Canada (1990); Saskatchewan Order of Merit (1995); Saskatchewan Agriculture Hall of Fame (1995); Honorary Doctor of Laws (L.L.D. - Hon.) University of Saskatchewan (1989); and Distinguished Graduate in Agriculture Award - University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture, 75th Anniversary (1986).

Ted Turner died at Regina on November 1, 2018.