CNN founder Ted Turner died on Wednesday, May 6. He was 87.
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” CNN Worldwide chairman and CEO Mark Thompson said in a statement. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN.”
Thompson continued, “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 is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, as well as his ex-wife Jane Fonda. (Turner, who was married to Fonda from 1991 to 2001, was previously married to late exes Judy Nye and Jane Shirley Smith, respectively.)
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Fonda, 88, has yet to publicly address Turner’s death, though she previously called the media mogul her “favorite ex-husband.”
“The mergers are going to be bad for workers, a lot of people are going to lose their jobs,” Fonda told Variety in March, discussing the possibility of film studio mergers. “We’re going to have higher prices. We’re going to have political control over what we do. … The Secretary of Defense said, ‘CNN can’t come soon enough to be under the control of Paramount.’ Because we know [Donald] Trump wants to hurt.”
She jokingly added, “I mean, I slept with the guy who created [CNN]. I have a personal stake in it.”
Turner, who founded CNN in 1980, also battled Lewy body dementia before his death. (His cause of death has not been revealed.)
“It’s a mild case of what people have as Alzheimer’s. It’s similar to that, but not nearly as bad,” Turner said during a September 2018 interview on CBS Sunday Morning. “Alzheimer’s is fatal. Thank goodness I don’t have that. But I also have got … let’s … I can’t remember the name of it.”
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Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a progressive brain disorder that often leads to a decline in thinking, reasoning and independent function. While speaking with CBS, Turner had begun to experience symptoms of his condition.
“Tired. Exhausted. That’s the main symptoms, and forgetfulness,” he said at the time. “I can’t remember what my disease is.”
CBS further reported that Turner started most days with yoga sessions from his private retreat in Montana.
“I’m not buying any more land. I’ve got enough,” he quipped of his expansive acreage devoted to saving the bison population.
