Ted Turner, who revolutionized television by launching the first 24-hour cable news network and transformed himself from an Atlanta billboard heir into one of America’s most audacious media titans and philanthropists, has died. He was 87.
Surrounded by family, Turner died peacefully on May 6, 2026, Turner Enterprises said in a statement. A private service will take place, with plans for a public memorial to follow. Since revealing in September 2018 that he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia — a progressive brain disorder affecting memory and cognitive function — Turner had largely retreated from the public eye. He was treated for a mild case of pneumonia in January 2025.
The Birth Of 24-Hour News
Cable News Network debuted on June 1, 1980, as the first dedicated rolling news channel and the first 24-hour cable news network in the United States. Critics derided it as the “Chicken Noodle Network.” The mockery wouldn’t last.
CNN validated Turner’s gamble with breathless coverage of President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 assassination attempt and the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster. But the network truly established its dominance through live rolling coverage from Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War. Even President George H.W. Bush relied on CNN for crisis updates, underscoring the network’s influence.
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgment,” CNN chairman and CEO Mark Thompson said in a statement honoring the founder. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN.”
From Billboards To A Broadcasting Empire
Born Robert Edward Turner III on Nov. 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Ed and Florence Turner, he grew up around his father’s billboard advertising business. After enrolling at Brown University in 1956, he was expelled in 1959 — reportedly for having a woman in his dorm room — and subsequently served in the U.S. Coast Guard.
By 1960, Turner had joined the family firm as general manager of a branch office. His father’s suicide in 1963 left the 24-year-old in charge as president and CEO. After acquiring several radio stations, he renamed the company Turner Communications and then made the defining move of his career: purchasing a struggling UHF television station in Atlanta.
Rebranded in 1979 as Turner Broadcasting System Inc., that station became WTBS and the cornerstone of his empire. The “superstation” TBS reached 2 million cable homes via satellite and fueled the cable and satellite TV explosion of the mid-1970s. Turner went on to launch TNT, pioneered original programming on basic cable, and later created Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies. After briefly owning MGM, he sold the studio and name but retained its invaluable film library.
Captain Outrageous And The Mouth Of The South
Turner’s brash, unpredictable personality earned him the monikers “The Mouth of the South” and “Captain Outrageous.” For a time, he lived inside CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, occasionally roaming the newsroom in a bathrobe to argue about the day’s news.
His competitive fire burned just as hot in sports. A world-class yachtsman, Turner won the America’s Cup in 1977 and the Fastnet race, and became the first person named Yachtsman of the Year four times. After a Murdoch-sponsored yacht collided with his boat during a 1983 Australian race, Turner challenged Rupert Murdoch to a fist fight.
Turner bought the Atlanta Braves in 1976 — partly to provide programming for his superstation — and the team captured the World Series in 1995 during his tenure. He also owned the Atlanta Hawks, acquired in 1977, and later the Atlanta Thrashers. In 1977, he briefly named himself manager of the Braves, triggering a Major League Baseball dispute; the Braves lost his only game in charge.
Turner had five children across three marriages. His most prominent union was with actress Jane Fonda from 1991 until 2001.
A Billion-Dollar Conscience
After receiving a United Nations award in 1997, Turner shocked the philanthropic establishment by pledging $1 billion — one-third of his wealth at the time — to establish the United Nations Foundation. He was among the first billionaires to donate massive sums during their lifetime rather than through estates.
“Everybody could be doing more! Nobody’s doing enough. I could be doing more!” he once said of his drive to make the world safer.
Turner co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative, pushed for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons and poured millions into combating climate change, fossil fuels, and overpopulation. He even produced “Captain Planet and the Planeteers,” an environmentally conscious Saturday-morning cartoon. In 2002, he launched Ted’s Montana Grill, an eco-friendly chain featuring bison burgers from herds raised on his own land — part of extensive holdings that helped reintroduce bison across the American West. This year, he received the 2026 Sierra Club Vanguard Award for his decades of leadership in environmental conservation, land preservation, and climate advocacy.
Tributes arrived within hours of the announcement. President Trump, a frequent critic of the modern CNN, called Turner “one of the greats of broadcast history, and a friend of mine,” adding, “Whenever I needed him, he was there, always willing to fight for a good cause!”
Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1991, Turner leaves behind a media landscape he largely built himself — and a philanthropic blueprint that reshaped how the ultra-wealthy give.