As president of Gillette Co.’s safety razor division in the early 1970s, Joseph F. Turley made it a point at Christmastime to shake hands with every employee at the end of each shift and thank them for their work at the South Boston plant.
“Joe was very smart, but low-key, never a shouter or a hollerer,’’ said Joseph Mullaney, a longtime friend and former Gillette general counsel. “He was a people person, always concerned about those working for him.’’
Having previously worked with the Boston Municipal Research Bureau and the Massachusetts Department of Commerce, Mr. Turley rose through the corporate ranks at Gillette. He was hired as special adviser to its chairman for public affairs in 1960; from 1981 until he retired in 1988, he was the company’s president and chief operating officer.
“My father was never full of himself. When asked what he did for a living, he often answered that he made razor blades,’’ said his daughter Donna of Cambridge. “He always said that his position in life was a result of timing and luck.’’
Mr. Turley, who also had headed Gillette’s operations in Spain and Canada and was executive vice president of its North American operations, died of cancer Dec. 16 in his Vero Beach, Fla., home. He was 91 and previously was a longtime Marblehead resident.
During his tenure as Gillette’s president, he helped ward off takeover threats from the likes of Coniston Partners and Ronald Perelman, chairman of the Revlon Group.
After he retired, Mr. Turley remained on Gillette’s board of directors until the mid-1990s. When the company was about to be sold to Procter & Gamble in 2005, he and Mullaney unsuccessfully urged the board to reconsider in a letter that was made public.
Earlier in their careers, Mullaney and Mr. Turley traveled to Latin America, Africa, and Asia, where they opened factories for the company, visited ongoing operations, and met with national and local officials. “Joe definitely strengthened the international arm of the business through his encouragement and mentoring,’’ Mullaney said.
From 1966 to 1969, Mr. Turley and his family lived in Seville while he supervised Gillette’s operations in Spain. In a 25th anniversary report of his Harvard University class, he recalled the time as “three of the most rewarding years of my life.’’
Mr. Turley, who embraced the Spanish culture and people, hired a local business school graduate, Jose Ribera, to assist him in Spain. Ribera, who retired from Gillette as its head of Europe, Middle East, and Africa operations, praised Mr. Turley in an e-mail to colleagues the day after his death.
“I have been very close to Joe for 48 years and spent countless hours talking with him about his favorite subjects: the Gillette Company people and the Gillette Company institution,’’ Ribera wrote, adding that Mr. Turley’s passion for both “was truly real and permanent.’’
In late 1980, when his impending promotion to president was announced, he told the Globe that as part of his initial management training program, he “carried a bag around Boston’’ selling Gillette products to stores. He said one of his goals was “to make a good citizen out of Gillette,’’ and added: “I traveled all around the world for the company – places I never thought I’d see as a kid.’’
Mr. Turley, who grew up in Dorchester, was described in that Globe profile as a “Fields Corner boy who made good.’’
He formerly was director of research at Boston College and a member of its board of trustees. Mr. Turley was also campaign chairman and a board member for the United Way campaign and had served on the boards of the South Boston Neighborhood House, the former defense contractor EG&G, and the Freedom Trail Foundation. He was a member of the corporations of Northeastern University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Wentworth Institute of Technology.
“He surprised me when I graduated Northeastern School of Law by presenting me with my diploma,’’ said his daughter Sharon Turley Harpin of Dennis. “It was a special day.’’
A financial supporter of the Democratic Party, Mr. Turley was also part of the Vault, a select group of Boston business and political leaders who met regularly and influenced public policy and helped develop initiatives.
Joseph Francis Turley was a son of Joseph and the former Margaret Haggerty, who were Irish immigrants. While attending Boston Latin School, Mr. Turley joined the Navy. He served as a gunnery petty officer, including on a destroyer escort at Okinawa and as part of the occupation forces in Japan.
Upon returning to Boston, he finished high school through a veterans’ General Educational Development program and enrolled at Harvard, where he completed his bachelor’s degree in economics in just 2½ years, graduating in 1950.
He received a master’s in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1951 and embarked on a career as an urban economist. In 1957, the Boston Junior Chamber of Commerce cited Mr. Turley as one of the city’s outstanding young men.
In 1948, he married Frances Marie Hurley, who died in 2005. Together, they traveled the world while also treasuring their time at home. “They were down-to-earth, unpretentious people who came from modest backgrounds and shared a dry wit,’’ Sharon said. “Holiday celebrations in Marblehead with extended family and friends were an important part of our lives.’’
Mr. Turley later married Marjorie Peterson of Vero Beach at a ceremony in Newport, R.I., where he was a summer resident. He and Frances had been friends with Marjorie and her husband, David, who had died in a boating accident.
“Joe was there to support me and we became even closer,’’ Marjorie recalled. “He was a fabulous man, truly a champion for the underdog.’’
Their travels included a 49-day cruise on the Amazon River and a visit to Mr. Turley’s two pistachio farms in Spain.
In addition to his wife and two daughters, Mr. Turley leaves a son, Jay of Fall City, Wash., and two grandchildren.
A memorial service will be announced.
“He used to say, ‘Call me Joe,’ ’’ said Mr. Turley’s son-in-law, Bill Harpin, “and wanted everyone to forget about formalities when talking with him, whether it was the president of Pakistan, the mayor of Boston, or the man who stood on the street corner outside the Prudential Building selling newspapers.’’
Marvin Pave can be reached at marvin.pave@rcn.com.
