Turner Enterprises announced on Wednesday that he died peacefully with his family by his side. The family did not share a cause of death, but Turner had been living with Lewy body dementia in recent years.
CNN CEO Mark Thompson called Turner “the presiding spirit of CNN” and praised him as a fearless and visionary leader.
Born Robert Edward Turner III on Nov. 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Turner took over his family’s advertising business after his father died in 1963. He later entered the television industry by buying a struggling TV station in Atlanta in 1970.
In 1975, Turner created the “superstation” concept by using satellites to broadcast television nationwide. The channel later became Turner Broadcasting System (TBS). A year later, he bought the Atlanta Braves baseball team to air its games on his station.
Turner launched CNN on June 1, 1980, creating the world’s first 24-hour cable news network. He also founded TNT, Cartoon Network, and Turner Classic Movies, helping build one of the largest media companies in the United States.
In 1996, Turner sold Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner for $7.3 billion in stock. He remained vice chairman until 2003.
Throughout his career, Turner received many honors, including Emmy awards, a Peabody Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Time magazine named him “Man of the Year” in 1991.
Turner was also known for his philanthropy and environmental work. He founded the Turner Foundation in 1990 and donated $1 billion to support United Nations programs. He also created the Nuclear Threat Initiative in 2001 to work against nuclear threats.
In 2018, Turner publicly revealed that he had Lewy body dementia during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
Ted Turner is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
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