Morton K. Tuller, 91, died May 1, 2013.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in Chicago, Mr. Tuller toured the country as a young man in the stage production of “Dead End Kids.” He was a pre-med student at Wright Junior College in Chicago when World War II began. He dropped out to enlist in 1942, serving in the Army Signal Corps, a top-secret post in a cryptography group that was part of a Navy amphibious group command ship. He earned six medals, one ribbon and 10 battle stars in the European and Pacific theatres, which were officially presented to him in 2000 by U.S. Rep Jim Kolbe.
Mr. Tuller founded Tuller Trophy in Tucson in 1955, later providing name plates for the White House and Arlington National Cemetery. In the early 1980s he was named National Trophy Dealer of the Year and was elected national president of the Trophy Dealers and Manufacturers Association. In 1996, he was inducted into the Awards and Recognition Hall of Fame. Mr. Tuller served as president of the Tucson Press Club, POW/MIA Association, Elks Lodge 385, Better Business Bureau, 88 Crime, Tucson Association of the Blind, commander of Jewish War Veterans, Sabbar Shrine and Friends of Saguaro National Park. He worked as a volunteer for many years at Tucson Medical Center and Saguaro National Park. Mr. Tuller was profiled in the Arizona Jewish Post twice in recent years: in 2001 when he served as an English language teacher in China and in 2008 when he celebrated a Bar Mitzvah in Jerusalem at the age of 87. Last month, Mayor Jonathan Rothschild presented him with a proclamation calling Tuller “a Tucson original.”
Mr. Tuller was predeceased by four siblings and his first wife, Sylvia. Survivors include his wife, Arlene Tuller; son, Howard (Patricia) Tuller and two grandchildren, all of Tucson; and his
extended family, Ruth-Ellen (Gary), Rosanne (Warren), Kellan (Ted), Marcia (Jonathan), Stacy, David (Faith), Marshall (Ora); 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Services were held at Evergreen Mortuary. Memorial contributions may be made to Aviva Children’s Services or Friends of Saguaro National Park.
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