Jerry Turner (anchorman)
{{short description|American television news anchor in Baltimore, Maryland (1929-1987)}}
{{Infobox person
| image= Jerry turner.jpg
| name = Jerry Turner
| birthname = Jerry Jackson Joiner
| birth_date = August 6, 1929
| birth_place = Meridian, Mississippi
| death_date = {{death date and age|1987|12|31|1929|08|06}}
| death_place = Baltimore, Maryland
| occupation = anchorman
| alias =
| title =
| family =
| spouse = Jean McIntyre (1952-1987, his death)
| children =
| relatives =
| credits = Co-anchor of WJZ-TV, Eyewitness News
}}
Jerry Turner (August 6, 1929 – December 31, 1987) was an American television news anchorman at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland. He was from Meridian, Mississippi and began working at the Baltimore television station in August 1962, starting the 6PM Newscast with Al Sanders in 1977.
Prior to his arrival on Television Hill, WJZ's news was mired in third place in a town that had three major network newscasts. In 1971, WBAL-TV was #1, WMAR-TV was #2; three years later, WJZ with Turner, Sanders, Bob Turk (weather) and Nick Charles (Sports) was a runaway #1 and stayed there through the 70s and into the 80s.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}
Turner worked with Oprah Winfrey when she moved to Baltimore in 1976 to co-anchor the 6PM news.
Illness and death
A resident of Lutherville, Maryland, Turner was diagnosed esophageal cancer in December 1986. He underwent a series of radiation and chemotherapy treatments and returned to the air in June 1987. He left the newscast in mid-December 1987 when his health deteriorated and died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on December 31, 1987, at 7:15 PM. His funeral was held at Towson Presbyterian Church.{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1231384.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019130941/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1231384.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-10-19|title=Baltimore TV Reporter Jerry Turner Dies at 58 |date=1988-01-01|newspaper=the Washington Post|access-date=2008-04-16}}
Legacy
Each year, the Baltimore Community Foundation awards college scholarships in the name of Jerry Turner for students who are interested in broadcast journalism. Several memorial discussion programs were broadcast on Channel 13 in the following week examining his legacy and a half hour televised review of his life and career was repeated several times.{{cite news|url=http://wjz.com/seenon/scholarship.jerry.turner.2.649554.html |title=Scholarships Turn College Dreams Into Realities |last=Lee |first=Peggy |date=2008-02-08 |publisher=WJZ-TV |accessdate=2008-04-17 }}{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
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{{succession box
| before=George Baumann
| after=Al Sanders
| title=WJZ-TV Lead Anchors
| years=1962 – 1987
}}
{{s-end}}
Notes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Jerry}}
Category:Television anchors from Baltimore
Category:American television reporters and correspondents
Category:People from Meridian, Mississippi
Category:Deaths from esophageal cancer in the United States
Category:Deaths from cancer in Maryland
Category:People from Lutherville, Maryland
Category:American male journalists