SUNY Empire Mourns the Loss of Susan H. Turben ’72, H’05

(SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- November 7, 2023) Susan Hanrahan Turben, Ph. D. ’72, H’05, passed away peacefully on November 6, her 87^th birthday, after a long illness.

Susan devoted a lifetime of service to the field of education, especially to Empire State University. She had the distinction of being SUNY Empire’s second graduate, completing a B.A. in developmental psychology/infant development in 1972. She also served as a member of the Foundation Board of Directors for two decades until stepping down in 2021.

After receiving her degree at SUNY Empire, Susan went on to earn an M.Ed. in early childhood education from Kent State University in 1978. Nine years later, she received a dual doctorate in early childhood and special education/developmental psychology, also from Kent State.  

With her husband Jack, Susan co-chaired SUNY Empire’s “Learners First” Campaign in 2003, a major $51.5 million fundraising effort. In recognition of her service to SUNY Empire, Susan was granted an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from SUNY Empire in 2005 and honored with the inaugural Distinguished Leader Alumni Award in 2017.

Susan Turben was a pioneer in the field of infant education and early childhood special education intervention. She was president of Turben Developmental Services, which provided home-based educational and developmental services to families and developed video products related to child development and parenting. She was a frequent lecturer on child development, child abuse, and neglect prevention and authored several training publications. Susan was an assistant professor of early childhood education at John Carroll University, in University Heights, Ohio and a teacher and administrator at Garfield Senior College, Painesville, Ohio.

Susan and her husband Jack are well-regarded philanthropists, and their gifts to SUNY Empire have been transformational. They became the institution’s first million-dollar donors with an unrestricted $1 million gift in 2004. At the time, Susan said, “If you look at [SUNY Empire’s] educational model, which is such a modern, vital, up-to-date way of educating people, the question is why wouldn’t we make this gift?”

The couple also established two endowed faculty chairs at SUNY Empire – the Susan H. Turben Chair in Mentoring and the Susan H. Turben Directorship for Autism Advocacy – as well as the Susan H. Turben Award for Excellence in Scholarship, an endowed professional development fund. The Turbens provided leadership support for The Fund for SUNY Empire and are members of the Boyer Legacy Society.

The family has requested that memorial gifts in celebration of Susan's life be directed to the Susan H. Turben Director of Autism Advocacy at Empire State University at www.sunyempire.edu/turben.

View her obituary.