Mike Turpen, the special guest of the Rotary Club of Edmond this week, has done it all. He was the Muskogee Police Legal Advisory, Muskogee County Assistant District Attorney, Muskogee County District Attorney, and, in 1982, was elected Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma. He served as Attorney General for one term, from 1983 to 1987. Since 1987, he has been a partner in the law firm of Riggs, Abney, Neal, Turpen, Orbison & Lewis in Oklahoma City.

      Turpen appears weekly in the award-winning public affairs television show, Flashpoint, which airs on Oklahoma City’s NBC affiliate, KFOR-TV. He has been a guest on numerous national and local television and radio shows, and has written widely.

     Appointed by President Clinton in 1993 to the President’s Advisory Council on the Arts for the Kennedy Center, Turpen is a passionate supporter the arts. He is President of the Lyric Theatre Board of Directors, and previously led its successful $10 million capital campaign. He also serves on the boards of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, the Oklahoma State Fair and Allied Arts. He previously served as President and board member of the CARE Center, OKC.

      In 2009, Governor Brad Henry appointed him to serve as one of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Turpen is serving a nine year term that ends in May, 2018.

      His honors are many. In 1975, Turpen was selected by the Oklahoma Bar Association as the state’s Outstanding Young Lawyer. This year, he was selected for induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

      Born in Tulsa, and educated in Tulsa Public Schools, he attended the University of Tulsa, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in History and a Juris Doctor degree. He is married to Susan, and has three children, Sean, Patrick and Sarah. He is an active member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City.

      I have known Mike for almost 30 years, and am proud to call him my friend. Please welcome Mike Turpen to the Rotary Club of Edmond.

Andy