Services for Dr. Morris Edward Turner, who died June 30 of a heart attack, will be held at the Mt. Ararat Baptist Church, 271 Paulson Avenue Tuesday, July 8, at 11 a.m. The viewing is Monday, July 7, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Professional services are entrusted to Coston Funeral Home.
He was married to Verena Turner. They had three sons: Morris Jr. (Crystal), Jonathan (Nicole) of Atlanta, Derrick (Danielle) one daughter, Kielah and 6 grandchildren. He regularly engaged in tennis and was an avid fisherman.
At the time of his death, Dr. Turner was the Medical Director for the outreach sites sponsored by Magee Women’s Hospital at Wilkinsburg and Monroeville; the Medical Director for Adagio Health; and the Chief of Service for Obstetrics and Gynecology at McKeesport Hospital.
He was born October 2, 1948 in Barney, Ga, a small farming community in the south central part of the state where his parents lived and survived as sharecroppers. Born during the “baby boomer” era, was one of five children at a time when segregation was pervasive.
Getting back and forth to school required early hours and much bus transportation involving more than 60 miles of travel each day. He graduated valedictorian from the Washington Street High School in Quitman, Ga in 1965. He received a tuition scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta where he attended from 1965-1969. His years at Morehouse were highlighted by the many facets of the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his marriage to Verena Pierce in 1968.
In 1969, after graduating from Morehouse College with degrees in Biology and Chemistry, he entered the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine from which he graduated in 1973. He completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Magee Women’s Hospital in 1976 and subsequently entered into private practice with Dr. Robert G. Kisner in Pittsburgh with whom he practiced for 26 years. In 2002, he joined the full time faculty of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His active practice was in the communities of East Liberty, Wilkinsburg, Monroeville, McKeesport, Oakland and Monessen.
Dr. Turner was the former President of the Gateway Medical Society, and the Medical Staff at Magee Women’s Hospital. In addition, he was a former member of the Board of Directors of Magee, the Allegheny County Medical Society and Primary Care Health Services. He was an active member of the Admissions Committee for the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh for 16 years.
He was selected as one of the New Pittsburgh Courier’s 50 Men of Excellence in 2012.
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