Bill Montgomery, the man who inspired Charlie Kirk to drop out of college to start Turning Point USA; all you need to know about Trump ally’s mentor

Charlie Kirk, conservative activist and a loyalist of US President Donald Trump, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday (September 10, 2025). Following the incident, an investigation was launched led by the Utah Department of Public Safety.

According to the department, the shooter was believed to have fired once from a nearby roof in a “targeted attack, CNN reported. Kirk was a co-founder of Turning Point USA, a non-profit organization founded in 2012. According to its website, the organization’s mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.

Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA along with William ‘Bill’ Thomas Montgomery, who is believed to have helped him lay the foundation for the organization. According to reports, Montgomery began going to meetings and hanging out with right-wing political activists during his high school days. This was the time when he met Montgomery.

Bill Montgomery: Early life, career and family

Born on May 29, 1940 in Lincoln, Nebraska, Montgomery grew up in Peoria, IL and was a member of the United States Air Force Reserve. He was colorblind. Montgomery lived in Illinois and before starting Turning Point with Kirk, he worked in marketing, publishing, restaurants and was a business development consultant, according to POLITICO.

A National Journal story published in The Atlantic recalls how Montgomery met Kirk when he was 18 and gave him advice to not go to college and instead start an organization after a speech at Benedictine University. “I don’t know you, but you need to start an organization to reach out to young people with your message.” One month after the first meeting, the two got together and launched Turning Point.

"You can't go to college!" Montgomery, then in retirement following a career in marketing, recalled telling Kirk. Montgomery was at Benedictine University, in the western Chicago suburb of Lisle, Illinois, for the college's Youth Government Day in May 2012.

The co-founder of conservative student group Turning Point USA, Bill Montgomery, died from complications of the coronavirus, according to two friends of his. He died from complications of the coronavirus in 2020, according to two friends of his., POLITICO reported.

According to his obituary on Neptune Society, Montgomery is survived by his wife, Edie, his son, daughter, step-daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren and (two) great-grandchildren.