CNN Founder, Media Mogul Ted Turner Dead at 87

Ted Turner, who reshaped television with CNN and gave away a sizable chunk of his fortune while he was still alive, has died at 87, his company Turner Enterprises has confirmed, per Variety. He'd revealed in 2018 that he was living with Lewy body dementia, a degenerative brain disease. The Cincinnati-born son of a struggling billboard owner, Turner inherited the family's ad business after his father's suicide and used it as a springboard into television. He bought a floundering UHF station in Atlanta in 1970, turned it into a WTBS "superstation" beamed by satellite, and helped spur the rise of basic cable.

Turner went on to launch CNN in 1980—the first 24-hour TV news channel—followed by the related Headline News, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, and the eco-themed kids series Captain Planet and the Planeteers. CNN's real-time coverage of events, from the Challenger disaster to the Gulf War, cemented Turner's reputation as a news pioneer, with Time naming him the magazine's "Man of the Year" in 1991.

Turner also became a major sports and land figure. He owned the Atlanta Braves and Hawks, using their games to feed his cable channels. An accomplished sailor, he won the America's Cup and the Fastnet race and was named yachtsman of the year four times. Outside of media, he acquired roughly 2 million acres across the US and founded the Ted's Montana Grill restaurant chain, promoting bison raised on his ranches. Turner's philanthropic bets were almost as bold as his business ones. In 1997, shortly after making billions from the sale of Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner, he pledged $1 billion—about a third of his wealth—to create the United Nations Foundation, pushing other wealthy Americans to give more.

Turner later saw much of his fortune evaporate in the troubled AOL-Time Warner merger, but he remained active on issues including nuclear disarmament, climate change, and population growth. The AP notes two nicknames that Turner earned over the years: "Captain Outrageous" and "the Mouth of the South." "If only I had a little humility, I'd be perfect," he once said. Married three times, including to actor Jane Fonda, Turner is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. CNN highlights Turner's life in pictures here.