Ron Turo, Esquire

Ron graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in History from the Pennsylvania State University in 1978 and received his Juris Doctor Degree in 1981 from the Dickinson School of Law. Upon graduation he became a full time Public Defender for Cumberland County where he began defending criminal cases from homicides to summary bad checks. In 1984 he entered the private practice of law and in 1989 opened the Turo Law Offices. That same year he returned as a part time Public Defender and became the county’s first Juvenile Defender. In 2015 he retired from the fulltime practice of law. He continued to serve as the Juvenile Defender for Cumberland County until he retired from that position in 2023.

He has been a Lecturer at the Dickinson School of Law , lectured at Criminal Law Symposiums for the Pennsylvania Bar Association and for Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He taught Juvenile Law as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Widener University School of Law, Harrisburg and as an Adjunct Professor at Central Penn College. He is biographee in “Who’s Who in American Law”. 

As a lawyer and historian, Ron has recreated famous events in the County’s legal history including the Murder of Attorney John Faller which occurred in the Old Courthouse in Carlisle in the 1950’s. He participated in a panel which explored the history of “Bessie’s House”, an infamous brothel which was operated by a black women in white Carlisle for decades.

As President of the Turo Foundation, he leads efforts to build or revamp wells in the Kuande tribal Kingdom in Northern Benin, Africa. The Foundation collected medical supplies and cash for Haiti and for the Ukranian people and currently is operating a monthly laundry night allowing people the opportunity to clean their family’s clothes at no cost. 

He served as the President of the Friendship Force of Greater Harrisburg and led journeys to Armenia, the Country of Georgia, Japan and Mongolia. He travels extensively having visited over 140 countries and territories on all 7 continents. 

He has served on the Boards of the Carlisle Theater, Safe Harbour, Maranatha, the Cumberland County Bar Foundation, the St. Thomas More Society, the Cumberland County Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation, the Baker Trust.

He is a docent at the Kings Gap Mansion, a volunteer with the Cumberland County Historical Society, the Friends of Barnitz Mill, Project Share, the Carlisle Area Family Life Center, South Middleton Township Nest Cavity Program, and BSA Troop 168.