CNN Founder Ted Turner, a Pioneer of Cable TV News, Dies at 87

UNITED STATES – Ted Turner, the media maverick who founded CNN, a pioneering 24-hour network that revolutionized television news, died on Wednesday at the age of 87.

Turner built a media empire that encompassed cable’s first superstation and popular channels for movies and cartoons.

He was also a philanthropist who founded the United Nations Foundation, an activist who sought the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons, and a conservationist. He also created the Captain Planet and the Planeteers cartoon to educate children about the environment.

Named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1991, Turner eventually sold his networks to Time Warner and later exited the business, but continued to express pride in CNN.

In 2018, Turner revealed that he had Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder.