FLINTSTONE, Ga. -- Sam Turner, 71, former CEO of Calfee Co. of Dalton Inc., died Nov. 10, 2016, at his home in Flintstone, Ga.
Dalton, Ga.-based Calfee operated the Favorite Markets and ComPac convenience-store chains in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. Turner was CFO, then president and CEO, from 1981 to 2010. He co-founded Enzo’s market in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 2013.
Turner served as chairman of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) from 2006 to 2007; he was also chairman of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores (GACS) and was inducted into the Food Industry Hall of Fame. He also served on the board of the Petroleum & Convenience Marketers of Alabama (P&CMA) and the Tennessee Oil Marketers Association (TOMA).
“Sam served on my board and was active in our association for years,” Bart Fletcher, president of P&CMA, told CSP Daily News. “He played a big part in helping us understand retailer issues as the industry moved from being wholesale only to wholesale and retail. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
As NACS chairman, Turner served during a time of rising gas prices, the association said. As gasoline prices topped $3 a gallon, Turner pointed out that politics and sound policy did not always go hand in hand: “We have a responsibility to ensure that Congress understands what is occurring in the retail gasoline business.” And of pending price-gouging legislation, he said, in one of his characteristic colorful phrases, “It’s like petting a puppy—it feels good but it doesn’t do a damn thing.”
His biggest and toughest battle, one that Turner compared to “walking up to King Kong and pulling a hair out of his chest,” was over credit-card interchange fees. “Last year, our industry paid almost as much in credit-card fees as we saw in profits,” he said during a speech at the 2006 NACS Show. “That’s absurd!”
“It’s an exciting business, and it’s something new every day … I’m never bored,” Turner said of the convenience-store industry. “It makes me feel good when I get up every morning … just knowing I am doing something that I enjoy.”
Turner was preceded in death by his wife, Verina S. Baxter. He is survived by his three children.
A memorial and visitation was held Nov. 14 in Chattanooga.
CSP Daily News sends condolences to his family, his friends and his colleagues.
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