L. Roger Turner, a longtime Wisconsin State Journal photographer and mentor to scores of photojournalists, died Friday at a Madison inpatient facility. He was 84.
Turner joined the State Journal in 1966 and retired in 1997. During his career, he created some of the most iconic news photos of Madison, his obituary notes.
Turner captured the Black student protests on UW-Madison’s campus in 1969, the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, the plane that delivered Otis Redding to his death in Lake Monona, and physical and emotional wreckage in the aftermath of a tornado in Barneveld. He photographed presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and hundreds of public employees and everyday citizens.
RELATED
- Couple explains iconic, emotional 1986 courthouse steps photo
- Bascom Hill’s “Fugitive flamingos” 40 years later
Turner lived with several health issues toward the end of his life, including cancer, and had been receiving hospice services.
He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Yvonne, son Scott Turner, and daughters Lori Frisch, Kelly Rehbeck and Kim Turner.
