CNN Founder Ted Turner Dead at 87

Media mogul, and CNN founder, Ted Turner has died after battling dementia.

Turner Enterprises announced Ted died Wednesday morning. Back in 2018, he announced he’d been diagnosed with Lewy Body dementia. That announcement came shortly after his 80th birthday.

In addition to launching the Cable News Network in 1979, Ted — who got his media start in advertising — created a media empire that included TBS Superstation, TNT, the Cartoon Network, and at one time, most of MGM Studios’ film library.

The billionaire entrepreneur is credited with shaping cable TV … and most of the channels he launched creations remain staples today of your basic cable offerings.

Turner eventually merged his massive media holdings with Time Warner.

Nicknamed the “Mouth of the South,” Ted also bought the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks in the early 1970s, and later World Championship Wrestling. He also won the America’s Cup yachting race in 1977. which landed him on the cover of Sports Illustrated that year.

He famously married Jane Fonda in 1991, before divorcing 10 years later. He’d been married two times before that — to Judy Nye and Jane Shirly Smith — and had 5 children.

Turner was 87.

RIP