Ted Turner, the maverick businessman and philanthropist who turned a financially struggling Atlanta TV station into a media empire around CNN, the first 24-hour cable news station, has died. He was 87.
Turner Enterprises announced his death in a news release obtained by USA TODAY on Wednesday, May 6, sharing that Turner died "surrounded by his family."
The garrulous broadcast entrepreneur, known as "The Mouth of the South," sold his father's successful billboard business to purchase Atlanta independent station WJRJ channel 17 in 1970. Turner expanded that purchase into Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), which included Turner Network Television (TNT) and the groundbreaking 24-hour news channel Cable News Network (CNN), which launched its nonstop news coverage in 1980.
"Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement," Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said 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."
Turner was the longtime, colorful owner of both the Atlanta Braves professional baseball team and Atlanta Hawks professional basketball team – teams that provided key content for his TV super-station WTCG, and which earned both teams a nationwide following. The one-time cellar-dweller Braves became known as America's Team and eventually dominated the National League in the 1990s under Turner's ownership, including a 1995 World Series victory.
