Fred L. Turner

Who was Fred L. Turner?

Frederick Leo Turner - who liked to be known simply as Fred. - was an American restaurant industry executive, chair and CEO of McDonald's. He is credited with helping to massively expand McDonald's, introducing new meals and setting service standards for the company and its employees.

Turner grew up in Des Moines and Chicago, and graduated from Drake University in 1954; that 22 June, he married fellow Drake graduate Patricia Shurtleff. The couple had three daughters. Patricia died on 9 October 2000.

Turner began his career at McDonald's in 1956 as a grill operator upon his discharge from the US Army, and quickly rose through the ranks. He was named Operations Vice President in 1958, when the firm had only 34 employees. In that role, he established strict guidelines for how McDonald's hamburgers and other products had to be served - including that fries "had to be precisely 0.28 inches thick", and that "exactly ten patties had to be formed from each pound of beef". "Quality, Service and Cleanliness" became his motto. He became Executive Vice President in 1967, then President and Chief Administrative Officer in 1968.