In 2004, Martha Barton created this fund in memory of her father to support the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

The Honorable W. Fred Turner joined the military after high school and was involved with the Flying Tigers during WWII. He rose to the rank of captain before leaving for the University of Florida where he earned a bachelor’s degree in law in 1948. Turner then returned to Bay County to practice law and was the attorney who successfully defended Clarence Earl Gideon in a U.S. Supreme Court mandated retrial in 1963. Turner worked as a private attorney until 1979, when he was elected to circuit judge. He retired from the bench in 1991 at age 70. He and his wife, Helen, had three children. Helen passed away in 1997 and Judge Turner passed away November 24, 2003 at the age of 81.