Henry A. Turner Jr., the Charles J. Stille Professor of History emeritus, who taught at Yale for 44 years, died Dec. 17, 2008, of complications of melanoma. He was 76.
Turner earned his bachelor’s degree from Washington and Lee University in 1954. After attending the University of Munich and the Free University of Berlin, he earned a Ph.D. in history from Princeton in 1960. At Princeton, he studied with the noted historian Gordon A. Craig ’36 *41.
At Yale, Turner was chair of the history department from 1976 to 1979 and the master of Davenport College from 1981 to 1991. He wrote several important books on modern Germany. Turner’s best-known book has been German Big Business and the Rise of Hitler (1985), which disputed the general belief that industrialists were the most important supporters of the Nazi party.
Among his honors were Stimson, Fulbright, Guggenheim, and Rockefeller fellowships, as well as an award from the Federal Republic of Germany.
Turner is survived by Jane, his wife of 50 years; three children; and six grandchildren.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.