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Ted Turner, Founder of CNN, Dies at 87
Media pioneer Ted Turner died Wednesday at age 87 after suffering from Lewy body dementia in recent years. Jane Fonda, his ex-wife of a decade, called him her favorite ex-husband in an Instagram tribute. Rupert Murdoch, once a bitter rival, described him as a great American and friend.
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Ted Turner died on Wednesday at age 87, according to a family statement released by Turner Enterprises. He died peacefully surrounded by his family. In recent years Turner had suffered from Lewy body dementia.
Jane Fonda, who was married to Turner from 1991 to 2001, posted a tribute to him on Instagram on Wednesday. Fonda, who has been married three times with Turner as her third husband, called him her favorite ex-husband and said the pair remained close friends after their divorce.
"He swept into my life, a gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate and I’ve never been the same," Fonda wrote.
"He needed me. " Fonda added that Turner "could also take care of me. That was new as well. To be needed and cared for simultaneously is transformative. Ted Turner helped me believe in myself. " She noted that five children survive him.
Turner launched CNN in 1980 as the first 24-hour cable news network. He went on to launch TNT, TCM and Cartoon Network. 5 billion. After the sale he focused on environmental and political causes.
David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, wrote in a memo to staff on Wednesday that Turner was "a visionary, a trailblazer and a foundational force behind many of the brands that are central to Warner Bros. " Rupert Murdoch called Turner "a great American and friend" after his death on Wednesday.
The two men had a decades-long public feud that began in 1983 after a sailing race in which Turner blamed Murdoch for a collision that cost him victory. In 1996 Murdoch spent over $100 million to launch Fox News Channel as a competitor to CNN. Turner compared Murdoch to Hitler in comments to journalists and, in 2003, challenged him to a fistfight while calling him a warmonger over support for the Iraq war.
In a 2019 interview Turner said he and Murdoch had long since made amends. At age 75, Turner gave himself five more years to live, according to a 2013 Fortune interview. He lived 12 more years and used that interview to discuss his mortality while warning about nuclear weapons and climate change.
