Ted Turner, the businessman and philanthropist who founded CNN, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 87.
The businessman born in Ohio, Atlanta, nicknamed „The Mouth of the South” for his outspoken nature, built a media empire that included the first superstation on cable television and popular channels for movies and cartoons, as well as professional sports teams such as the Atlanta Braves, as reported by CNN.
Turner was also an internationally renowned sailor, a philanthropist who founded the United Nations Foundation, an activist who advocated for the global elimination of nuclear weapons, and one of the largest landowners in the United States. He played a significant role in reintroducing bison to the Western United States. He also created the animated series Captain Planet with the aim of educating new generations about environmental issues.
However, his bold vision to broadcast news from around the world in real-time, at any hour, truly made him famous.
In 1991, Turner was named Time magazine's Man of the Year for "shaping the dynamics of events and turning viewers from 150 countries into live witnesses of history."
Turner eventually sold his networks to Time Warner and later left the media sector, but he continued to express his pride in CNN, calling it "the greatest achievement" of his life.
"Ted was an intensely involved and dedicated leader, fearless and always willing to trust a hunch and have faith in his own judgment," said Mark Thompson, President and CEO of CNN Worldwide, in a statement. "He was and will always be the guiding spirit of CNN. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and today we all pause in a moment of gratitude for him and his impact on our lives and the world."
Just over a month before turning 80 in 2018, Turner revealed that he was suffering from Lewy body dementia, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, the second most common after Alzheimer's, caused by the abnormal accumulation of alpha-synuclein protein (Lewy bodies) in the brain.
In early 2025, Turner was hospitalized with a mild form of pneumonia, followed by a recovery treatment at a rehabilitation center.
Ted Turner had five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
T.D.