Former JA executive Roy Turvey was ‘a positive influence’ on many
West Mountain resident served as first director of Hamilton chapter from 1968-87
Roy Turvey — known fondly as “Mr. T” — is being remembered as a role model by some of the people who went through Junior Achievement in Hamilton.
Turvey — who died Dec. 13 at 93 — was the first executive director of JA when it came to the city in 1968.
He helped build it into a going concern so that by the time it marked its 10th anniversary in 1978, more than 5,200 high school students had passed through the program that had them create minicompanies and manufacture and market products. Turvey retired from JA in 1987.
“‘Mr. T’, as Roy was known to thousands of teenagers at Junior Achievement many years ago, will forever be remembered as a wonderful example of how to earn the respect of others with caring, and for his fairness, approachability and his friendly dignity,” Rose Cantelo Mayhew, a former JA achiever and staffer, said on social media. “Roy was such a positive influence on me and so many others.”
Krista Warnke, the retired public education co-ordinator for the Sexual Assault Centre of Hamilton and Area (SACHA), said Turvey will always have a special place in her heart.
“He was a father figure to me and an important influence in my life,” she said on social media. “The positive impact he had on young lives is incalculable.”
Real estate agent Cameron Nolan, who once ran for city council, was also an achiever and a volunteer staffer.
“His remarkable way of guiding young Junior Achievers left an indelible mark on me, one that positively shaped my own career,” he said on social media.
Turvey was born Oct. 1, 1929, in Brantford to Jack and Pearl Turvey. His father was an electrician and his mother was a housewife. He graduated from Brantford Collegiate Institute. After high school, he worked in the manufacturing support department at the Ladish Co., a maker of electric motors in Brantford. In 1964, he went to Calgary to become executive director of Junior Achievement and stayed for four years.
His son Rick said his father always believed in people.
“He saw the best in everyone,” said the retired Sofina Foods and Procter & Gamble executive. “He has been described as a mentor, a friend, a second father to many teenagers and always found the time to support and encourage anyone who needed help.”
JA was founded in Hamilton by Dofasco engineer David O. Davis. Turvey was credited with helping JA grow because he developed an excellent rapport with high schools. He and his band of volunteer recruiters visited schools in September and gave classroom presentations to Grade 10 students.
Each student company had an adviser from businesses like Dofasco, Bell Canada and The Hamilton Spectator. JA was once located in a building on Ferguson Avenue South, near Main Street East, but in later years moved into the basement of the Sherman Centre, a school and then Jackson Square. It folded in the early 2000s, but a pilot program operated at Cathy Wever Elementary School for grades 6, 7 and 8 students last year. The Hamilton Rotary Club has hope of expanding it to other schools in the future.
Turvey believed JA was a good learning experience for students, but also for advisers.
“I think the program has become an interesting educational process for the advisers,” he told The Spectator in 1978. “In fact, I sometimes wonder who gets the most out of it, the advisers or the students.”
In his retirement, Turvey sold insurance part time and, from 200015, headed what became known as “Roy’s Boys” at the Church of the Resurrection on the west Mountain. It was a group of volunteers who did odd jobs around the church like replacing windows and installing hardwood floors. Turvey received the Order of Niagara for his dedication to the church.
Turvey is survived by his wife Ann, children Rick, Diane and David, 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
He has been described as a mentor, a friend, a second father to many teenagers and always found the time to support and encourage anyone who needed help.
RICK TURVEY SON