Conferral of the Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa upon
Robert L. Turner
Robert L. Turner received his B.A. in History from St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1962. Reflecting the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul and the mission of St. John’s University, he has committed his talents to making the communities of Brooklyn and Queens stronger and the lives of its citizens better. Recently he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he represents New York’s 9th Congressional District, the area in which he has lived his entire life. In recognition of his broad and deep insight into local, national and international issues, he was named to three of the most important and influential Congressional committees: the House Committee on Homeland Security, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Prior to his election to Congress he enjoyed four decades of remarkable success in the highly competitive television industry. He began his career as an Account Executive at ABC-TV; two years later he left to become Director of Advertising for the United States and Canada at Bristol-Myers. He later held a variety of senior executive positions across the communications industry, including Vice President and General Manager of CBS Cable Network, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Orbis Communications, President and Chief Executive Officer of Multimedia Entertainment, Inc. and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Quadrant Enterprises, Inc. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Television Programming Executives and the Television Committee of the Association of National Advertisers, he was the Founder and first President of the Association of Syndicated Television Advertisers. As he has lived St. John’s mission, so too has he remained loyal to the University itself as a longtime member of The Loughlin Society. Tonight, on the 50th anniversary of his graduation, St. John’s University pays tribute to his exemplary accomplishments and to the values that have animated his life, and with pride and gratitude confers upon Robert L. Turner the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
May 18, 2012