Media titan Ted Turner, who transformed television by creating the first 24-hour cable news network and later shocked the philanthropic world with a $1 billion donation to the United Nations, has died at age 87.
A statement from Turner Enterprises confirmed he died peacefully on May 6, 2026, with family by his side. Since revealing his Lewy body dementia diagnosis in September 2018, Turner had been battling the progressive brain disorder that impairs memory and cognitive abilities. He was hospitalized briefly for mild pneumonia in January 2025. His family plans a private service, with a public memorial to follow.
The Birth of 24-Hour News
Turner revolutionized journalism on June 1, 1980, when he launched Cable News Network — America’s first 24-hour cable news network and the world’s first dedicated 24-hour news channel. Critics derided it as the “Chicken Noodle Network.” The mockery wouldn’t last.
The network established credibility through intense coverage of major events including the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan and the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster. Cable News Network (CNN)’s defining moment arrived with live rolling coverage from Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War, when President George H.W. Bush relied on the network for updates throughout the crisis.
“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.”
At the Warner Bros. Discovery upfront presentation on May 13, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper honored Turner before the gathered industry audience. “He was a bold visionary with an unrivaled work ethic,” Cooper said. “He believed in the value of people’s access to information, and he built a company that has impacted not only everyone in this room, but anyone who has ever watched television.”
From Billboards to a Broadcasting Empire
Born Robert Edward Turner III on Nov. 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Ed and Florence Turner, he was raised around his father’s billboard advertising business. After enrolling at Brown University in 1956, he was expelled in 1959, 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 1963 suicide thrust the 24-year-old into the roles of president and CEO. After acquiring several radio stations, he renamed the operation Turner Communications, then took the pivotal step of purchasing a failing UHF television station in Atlanta.
That station became WTBS and served as the foundation of his empire, rebranded as Turner Broadcasting System Inc. in 1979. Using satellite technology, the “superstation” reached 2 million cable homes and helped ignite the cable and satellite TV explosion of the mid-1970s. Turner’s expanding portfolio soon included TNT, original programming that pioneered basic cable content, and later Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies. After a brief ownership of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), he sold the studio and name while retaining its invaluable film library.
A Billion-Dollar Conscience
Turner shocked the philanthropic community in 1997 by pledging $1 billion, one-third of his wealth at the time, to establish the United Nations Foundation after receiving an award from the organization. He pioneered the practice of giving away massive fortunes during one’s lifetime instead of through bequests.
“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.
His environmental and humanitarian efforts extended to co-founding the Nuclear Threat Initiative, advocating for global nuclear weapons elimination and contributing millions toward combating climate change, fossil fuels, and overpopulation. He produced “Captain Planet and the Planeteers,” an environmentally focused Saturday-morning cartoon. In 2002, Ted’s Montana Grill opened as an eco-friendly restaurant chain featuring a signature bison burger sourced from herds on his own land — property that helped restore bison populations throughout the American West. He received the 2026 Sierra Club Vanguard Award earlier this year for his decades-long commitment to environmental conservation, land preservation, and climate advocacy.
Captain Outrageous and the Mouth of the South
An unpredictable and outspoken personality earned Turner the monikers “The Mouth of the South” and “Captain Outrageous.” He lived for a time inside CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, occasionally roaming the newsroom in a bathrobe to engage in discussions about current events.
His competitive intensity extended to sports. An accomplished yachtsman, Turner captured the America’s Cup in 1977 and the Fastnet race, becoming the first person to earn Yachtsman of the Year honors four times. Following a collision between his boat and a Murdoch-sponsored yacht during a 1983 Australian race, Turner challenged Rupert Murdoch to a fist fight.
Turner purchased the Atlanta Braves in 1976, in part to provide content for his superstation, and saw the team capture the World Series in 1995 during his ownership. The Atlanta Hawks, acquired in 1977, and later the Atlanta Thrashers also fell under his control. He appointed himself manager of the Braves in 1977, igniting conflict with Major League Baseball; the team lost the single game he managed.
Turner married three times and fathered five children. His most publicized marriage paired him with actress Jane Fonda from 1991 until 2001.
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!”
Named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1991, Turner leaves behind a media landscape he essentially built himself — and a philanthropic blueprint that reshaped how the ultra-wealthy give.