Overview
- Turner, who died Wednesday at 87, passed away peacefully surrounded by family, his company said, after years of living with Lewy body dementia disclosed in 2018.
- He launched CNN in 1980 as the first 24-hour news channel, a model cemented by the network’s live reporting during the 1990–91 Gulf War.
- He built a wide media portfolio that included TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network, and he sold Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner in 1996 in a multibillion-dollar deal.
- Beyond media, he became a major philanthropist and conservationist, pledging $1 billion to United Nations causes and backing wildlife restoration such as bison herds in the American West.
- Tributes arrived from CNN chief Mark Thompson and ex-wife Jane Fonda, and his family said he is survived by five children along with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.