Cal Turner, Jr.

Hurley Calister "Cal" Turner Jr. (born January 25, 1940) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He served as the chairman and chief executive officer of Dollar General, a chain of low-cost variety stores founded by his father, Cal Turner Sr.

Early life Cal Turner Jr. was born on January 25, 1940, to Laura and Cal Turner. He is the son of Cal Turner, the founder of Dollar General. He has three siblings, including a sister, Laura Dugas. He is the oldest son. He grew up in Scottsville, Kentucky. He served in the United States Navy from 1962 to 1965. He became president in 1977 and chairman in 1988. During his tenure, he forced both his father and his brother out of the business.

Philanthropy Turner serves on the board of trust of his alma mater, Vanderbilt University. With his sister Laura Dugas, Turner donated a pipe organ to the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. In March 2015, he donated US$1.2 million through the Cal Turner Family Foundation to endow the Turner Family Center for Social Ventures at Vanderbilt's Owen School of Management.

Turner served on the board of trustees of Fisk University, a historically black university in Nashville; the PENCIL Foundation, a non-profit organization whose aim is to improve public education in Nashville, and the YMCA of Middle Tennessee. Additionally, he serves on the Leadership Council of the Andrews Institute, a research center at the College of Leadership and Public Service of Lipscomb University. Through the Cal Turner Family Foundation, he donated US$3 million to build the Cal Turner Family Center, a conference center at Meharry Medical College, a United Methodist medical school in Nashville. Additionally, he established the Cal Turner Jr. Center for Church Leadership at Martin Methodist College, a United Methodist college in Pulaski, Tennessee.

Turner was the recipient of the Presidential Award for Private Sector Initiatives from President Ronald Reagan in 1988. and has a son, Cal Turner, III. They resided in a home in Fieldstone Farms, a neighborhood of Franklin, Tennessee, near Nashville.

Turner is a member of the United Methodist Church. He plays the piano and pipe organ.

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