Key Points
-
Ted Turner, the enterprise magnate who based NCS and Turner Broadcasting System, died Wednesday at 87.
-
“He was and always will be the presiding spirit of NCS,” community CEO Mark Thompson mentioned in an announcement.
-
In addition to his enterprise enterprise successes, Turner was additionally a acknowledged philanthropist and the chairman of the Turner Foundation, which he based in 1990 to assist environmental causes.
Ted Turner, the enterprise magnate who based NCS and Turner Broadcasting System, has died. He was 87.
Turner Enterprises introduced the tragic information on Wednesday with an announcement from the household, revealing that the billionaire entrepreneur died peacefully and surrounded by his household. A explanation for loss of life was not instantly obtainable, however he was recognized to be battling Lewy physique dementia lately.
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” NCS CEO Mark Thompson mentioned in an announcement. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of NCS. 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 had been married thrice, notably to actress Jane Fonda from 1991 to 2001.
Ted Turner and Jane Fonda attend GCAPP celebration of her eightieth birthday on Dec. 9, 2017
Credit: Rick Diamond/Getty
Born Robert Edward Turner III on Nov. 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Turner grew as much as take over his household’s billboard promoting firm, Turner Advertising, after his father’s loss of life in 1963. In 1970, he entered the TV enterprise via the acquisition of the struggling Atlanta-based station UHF.
Five years later, Turner invented the “superstation,” which used a satellite tv for pc to broadcast the TV channel that went on to turn out to be Turner Broadcasting System, or TBS. In 1976, he continued to flex his enterprise muscular tissues by shopping for the Atlanta Braves so he may broadcast the Major League Baseball staff’s video games on his station.
Turner launched NCS, the primary 24-hour cable information community, on June 1, 1980, alongside Reese Schonfeld, and was additionally the founder of TNT, TBS and Cartoon Network, in addition to co-creator of Captain Planet and the Planeteers. The success of NCS — which counted an viewers of 165 million households world wide going into the twenty first century — noticed Turner Broadcasting increasing into different companies together with NCS Headline News, NCS International, TNT, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies.
The man dubbed “Mouth of the South” bought Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner in 1996 for $7.3 billion in inventory, however served as vice chairman of the corporate till 2003 and resigned from the board in 2006.
Due to his huge work in media, Turner was the recipient of a variety of awards and honors all through his life — together with Lifetime Achievement Emmys in each Sports and News & Documentary, a Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, an Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Communication, a Peabody Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, entry into the Television Hall of Fame, a spot as Time journal’s Man of the Year for 1991, and even a 1995 World Series ring.
In addition to his enterprise enterprise successes, Turner was additionally a acknowledged philanthropist and the chairman of the Turner Foundation, which he based in 1990 to assist environmental causes. He pledged to donate $1 billion to the United (*87*) in 1997 — of which he made his remaining cost in 2015 — and the next 12 months created the United (*87*) Foundation, which goals to advertise a extra simply world. He then based the Nuclear Threat Initiative in 2001 to guard the globe from nuclear weapons.
In September 2018, Turner revealed he was recognized with Lewy physique dementia in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
“It’s a mild case of what people have as Alzheimer’s. It’s similar to that. But not nearly as bad. Alzheimer’s is fatal,” Turner mentioned of the situation, which is attributable to irregular protein deposits that construct up over time and disrupt regular mind perform. “Thank goodness I don’t have that. But, I also have got, let’s — the one that’s — I can’t remember the name of it,” he mentioned, pausing momentarily earlier than including, “Dementia. I can’t remember what my disease is.”
Get your each day dose of leisure information, celeb updates, and what to look at with our EW Dispatch newsletter.
Turner is survived by 5 youngsters, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Read the unique article on Entertainment Weekly