Don Turner, a lifelong public servant in his hometown of Milton and the former minority leader of the Vermont House, died Saturday after a short illness. He was 60 years old.
According to an obituary, he died at the McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester, surrounded by family, following a diagnosis of glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer.
Miller had served for the past seven years as Milton’s town manager, but his public service spanned much of his life. He joined the town’s fire department at age 16, according to the obituary, and would spend 14 years as its chief. Turner also worked as a real estate broker, housing developer and property manager.
“He was Mr. Milton himself, as some of us have called him,” said Milton Selectboard Chair Darren Adams. “He was definitely a man who wore many hats.”
Then-Gov. Jim Douglas appointed Turner to the House in 2006, launching a roughly 14-year stint in state government. For eight of those years, he served as the Republican minority leader. In 2018, Turner gave up his House seat to run for the state’s No. 2 job — unsuccessfully challenging Progressive/Democratic Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman.
“He was a great leader,” Douglas said. “Everybody liked and respected him in the community, and that’s the essence of a good legislator and public servant of any kind.”
This story will be updated.
Read the story on VTDigger here: ‘Mr. Milton’: Don Turner, former leader of Vermont House Republicans, dies at 60.