Deceased Members–2008

In Memory of Jack M. Turnquist

Jack Myron Turnquist, FSA, FCA, MAAA, passed away on Feb. 5, 2008 after starting a battle against cancer only five months earlier.

Turnquist was born on July 14, 1931 to Malcolm and Edna Turnquist in San Juan, Texas. He attended Illinois Wesleyan University and the University of Iowa, where he received a M.S. in mathematics. Turnquist started his business career in Chicago in 1955 as an actuary for Continental Assurance Co. He moved to Dallas in 1965. Turnquist was a director of Tillinghast, Nelson, and Warren, an international actuarial consulting firm until 1987 when he started his own firm, Totidem Verbis. There he provided actuarial expert services on insurance company litigation and reorganization matters until he retired in 2001.

Turnquist was actively involved in the Society of Actuaries, the American Academy of Actuaries and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries. During his service, he was president of the CCA and AAA. He received the SOA's Presidential Award and the Academy's Jarvis Farley Service Award. Turnquist served on the SOA Board of Governors and the Actuarial Foundation Board of Trustees. He was also a charter member of the Interim Actuarial Standards Board and subsequently served as chairperson of the Actuarial Standards Board.

In addition, he headed the Academy's Council on Professionalism as Academy vice president for professionalism. He chaired the SOA Committee on Professionalism, the Academy's Committee on Guides to Professional Conduct and the Academy's Joint Committee on the Code of Professional Conduct.

Turnquist also served as a member of the Critical Review of the U.S. Actuarial Profession (CRUSAP) Task Force. He headed the task forces that developed the Introduction to the Actuarial Standards of Practice and the Council on Professionalism's discussion paper The Structural Framework of U.S. Actuarial Professionalism. He served on the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline.

He is survived by his devoted wife of 50 years, Edith Santistevan Turnquist; daughter, Jill Ivy and her husband, Richard Ivy; daughter, Joy Hessenflow and her husband, Steve Hessenflow; daughter, Monique Underwood; daughter, Laura Ledgard and her husband, Larry Ledgard; son, Phillip Maynez; sister, Karen Cacioppo; a great grandson, and numerous grandchildren, nieces, nephews and other family. He was preceded in death by his mother, Edna Hamilton; father, Malcolm Turnquist; stepmother, Lillian Turnquist; and brother, Edgar Turnquist.

Turnquist was a perfectionist who was soft–spoken, civil and unassuming with a dry humor and sharp wit. He was generous to friends, family and colleagues; giving time, expertise and love freely. He enjoyed classical music, planning and traveling to far–flung places, food and wine.