Ted Turner, the brash Atlanta-born media mogul who created CNN and turned a family billboard outfit into a cable colossus that included TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies, has died at 87, his company announced Wednesday. He helped lock 24-hour news into the daily rhythm of modern life, then spent much of his later years pouring money into philanthropy and conservation, protecting vast stretches of ranchland and maintaining a massive bison herd. His story ran on spectacle and stewardship alike, from big-league sports and world-class sailing to high-profile global charity work.
CNN reported his death Wednesday, citing a news release from Turner Enterprises, according to CBS News. The announcement did not immediately offer many details beyond his age and the company’s brief statement.
From Billboards To All-News Breakthrough
Turner took over his family’s billboard business and pushed it into broadcasting, ultimately launching CNN in 1980 as what The Washington Post notes was the first continuous, 24-hour cable news channel. The idea of nonstop, live news was widely mocked at first, then quickly copied after CNN’s wall-to-wall coverage of events such as the Persian Gulf War proved how powerful that model could be.
Sports, Sailing And Open-Range Ambitions
Turner owned the Atlanta Braves for roughly 20 years and the Hawks for nearly two decades, a run that included the Braves’ 1995 World Series title, according to the AP. He was also an accomplished yachtsman, skippering Courageous to an America’s Cup win in 1977. Off the water and far from cable studios, he became one of the nation’s largest private landowners, protecting millions of acres and overseeing a major commercial bison herd.
Philanthropy And A Quieter Final Act
Turner used his fortune to bankroll causes ranging from the United Nations Foundation to environmental projects and media efforts such as the eco-themed cartoon "Captain Planet," as outlined by GPB. In 2018, he made public that he was living with Lewy body dementia and in recent years largely stepped back from the spotlight, spending more time overseeing his ranches and philanthropic work.
Colleagues Weigh In On A Singular Boss
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgment,” Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said in a statement reported by WXII12. Turner is survived by his children and a large extended family, and his death closes a long run in which one outsized personality helped reshape cable television and built a complicated public and civic legacy.
Turner Enterprises and relatives are expected to share plans for remembrances in the coming days, locally and nationally. In Atlanta and beyond, his mark is hard to miss, from the networks that still beam into homes, to the teams that defined an era of local sports, to the open land and roaming bison that speak to the second act of a very public life.
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