CNN announced the death of its founder in a statement on May 6.
CNN founder Ted Turner has died after a long battle with Lewy body dementia.
Turner Enterprises, the company that managed Turner’s businesses, confirmed the death of the trailblazing television pioneer in a statement on May 6. He was 87 years old.
CNN anchor Brian Stelter revealed that the businessman spent a decade suffering from Lewy body dementia, a disease that affects thinking, memory, and movement.
“In recent days, I’m told, he transitioned to hospice care, and family gathered by his bedside,” Stelter shared during a May 6 interview on CNN.
Turner is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson shared his condolences on the death of the businessman and cable TV pioneer.
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” Thompson wrote in a statement.
“He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.”
The Epoch Times has contacted Turner Enterprises for additional information.
Turner was born in Cincinnati on Nov. 19, 1938.
The Midwesterner served in the U.S. Coast Guard before he started his professional career working for his father’s billboard business, Turner Advertising Co. He took over as president after his father passed away.
The advertising company bought five radio stations in the Southeast before pivoting to television.
The Ohio native entered the television business in 1970 after he sold the five radio stations to acquire an independent TV station in Atlanta.
Throughout the next decade, he launched TBS, bought Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves, and purchased the National Basketball Association’s Atlanta Hawks.
The tycoon expanded his legacy as he launched Cable News Network, known as CNN, in 1980, a decade after he entered the television business and went on to create CNN Headline News (HLN), Turner Network Television (TNT), and Cartoon Network.
Turner ventured into sailing and spent decades being heavily involved in philanthropy and working to protect endangered species. He also acquired a large portfolio of ranches.
“At the time of his death, Turner was also one of the largest private landowners in the United States with more than two million acres,” Turner Enterprises wrote in a statement.
“The well-being of these properties and the species present on each was of utmost importance to Turner; therefore, Turner ensured that upon his passing, his lands will continue to be protected, limiting future development and parcellation.”
By Jacki Thrapp
