PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) – Terry L. Morton, the former commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Services and the longest serving trustee of the University System of New Hampshire, died Monday, according to the Portsmouth Herald. He was 59.

A native of Indiana, Morton served in the Army from 1963 to 1966, attaining the rank of staff sergeant.

From 1982 to 1997, Morton served five successive New Hampshire governors as a budget and financial policy adviser. He formally served as state budget director for Gov. John Sununu from 1982-1983.

From 1986-1994, Morton served as president of Granite Partners, Ltd., a venture capital company. In 1995, Morton was appointed commissioner of Health and Human Services.

, the state’s largest agency.

While commissioner, Morton reorganized the department through a clarified mission, focusing on integrated service in a cost-efficient manner. He is credited with developing a Kids Agenda in 1996 that served as a guideline for legislation, including restrictions on youth access to tobacco, increasing the mandatory age for seatbelts, changes in child support and reduction in children’s exposure to lead paint.

Morton also promoted a statewide commission on childcare with the business community, providers and educators; developed a health care plan for children approved in 1998 as part of the Children’s Health Insurance Plan initiative and developed the plan for the Health Care Transition Fund, a state community grant program.

Morton served as a trustee of the University System of New Hampshire since his initial appointment in 1987.

He was an avid supporter of UNH hockey and was instrumental in the construction of the Whittemore Center. In 1984, Morton and colleagues engineered the sale of Portsmouth Regional Hospital to Hospital Corporation of America, creating the Foundation for Seacoast Health, one of the state’s largest private charitable foundations.

Morton served as a Portsmouth Hospital trustee from 1981-1985, and, with the sale of the hospital, became the chairman of the Foundation for Seacoast Health, where he served in formal roles until 1993.

From 2001, Morton also served as chair of the New Heights Program, the state’s largest adolescent program. Working with other volunteers and staff, he redesigned financials and program structure to ensure the sustainability of this organization, which served almost 1,000 teenagers last year.

Morton is survived by his wife of 40 years, Kay; his son, his wife and granddaughter, Terry Lee, Caron and Kayla Morton of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; his daughter, Mindy Morton of Santa Clara, California; and several family cats.

Funeral services for Terry L. Morton will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Chapel Street, Portsmouth. The Rev. Timothy Rich will officiate. A reception will be held immediately after the service at the Community Campus, off Route One in Portsmouth.

There will be no calling hours. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Morton Scholarship Fund for the New Heights Program, care of New Heights, 100 Campus Drive, Portsmouth, NH 03801.

AP-ES-12-29-03 1945EST