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Industry Guru and Journalist Bob Turner Dies Popular author loses battle with cancer By Charlie White

(7/17/05) Bob Turner, respected journalist, video editor and content creation industry guru, died on Friday night, July 15, 2005, after a courageous battle with lung cancer. He was 54. Bob was a well-known contributing editor to Video Systems magazine, and was author of The Cut, a popular email newsletter that covered the intricacies of digital video editing and post-production.

Before joining Video Systems magazine, Bob was a highly-regarded author for Videography magazine. Prior to his storied career in journalism, Bob was a videotape editor at various high-end production facilities in New York. He was a graduate of Ottawa University in Kansas, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the US Naval Academy of Annapolis, Maryland. He lived in Scituate, Massachusetts with his family. He is survived by his wife Margaret "Peg" H. (Hempenius), his daughter Amanda E. Turner of Scituate & Yale University, two sisters, Cathy Turner Baker of Oak Park, Illinois and Cheryl Turner Gibson of Wake Forest, North Carolina, and two brothers, Commander Mark Turner USN of Jacksonville, Florida and Michael Turner also of Wake Forest, North Carolina, and was an uncle of 5 nieces and nephews.

Members of the press corps fondly recall Bob?s commanding voice, asking insightful questions and making astute comments at press events across the country and around the world for many years. His steady presence, encyclopedic knowledge, enthusiastic demeanor and tremendous work ethic gained him industry-guru status among his fellow journalists and company leaders as well.

At this year?s NAB 2005 convention in April, Avid CEO David Krall opened up the company?s annual Q&A session with an announcement that Bob, who was traditionally the first questioner at this function, was too ill to attend the event this year. The audience erupted into spontaneous applause, showing their respect for Bob Turner, whose credibility and stature in the industry had elevated him to the status of Dean of Content Creation Journalism.  

Bob will be sorely missed by all of us who dealt with him on a regular basis, who listened to his entertaining stories and benefited from his hard-won wisdom, and who sat with him for long hours into the night, talking over the affairs of the day, both large and small. His enlightening emails, sometimes containing cheerfully constructive admonishment as well as upbeat praise, but always filled with helpful comments, made better people out of all of us who knew and admired him. All the content creation industry press tours, demos and junkets won?t ever be the same again without his upbeat, charismatic presence. He was a gentleman and a scholar. The vacuum left by his death will be hard to fill.

A celebration of Bob Turner's life will be held at 2 p.m. this Wednesday, July 20, 2005 at the Cohasset Lightkeeper's Cottage, 15 Lighthouse Lane, off Border St. in Cohasset, Massachusetts. Visiting hours have been omitted and there will be a private burial. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, Relay for Life, Yale University, Team Turner, PO Box 205803, New Haven, CT 06520.

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