Ralph D. Turlington Sr. died May 12 at 100 years old. He served as the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and as the state's commissioner of education.
Ralph D. Turlington, who used keen political skills to create laws that shaped his home state, died Wednesday in North Carolina at age 100.
Among legislation he wrote and pushed through that changed Florida: the Government in the Sunshine law, the state employees pension system, lowering the voting age to 18 and the state s first corporate income tax.
He represented Alachua County for 24 years in the state Legislature and along with state Sen. William Shands and state Rep. Osee Fagan secured a huge prize for their hometown: the initial funding for a medical center at the University of Florida now the statewide system known as UF Health.