The media industry has lost a trailblazer.
Ted Turner—the founder of CNN—died May 6, according to a release from Turner Enterprises. 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,” Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide Mark Thompson said in a statement. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. 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 Laura Turner Seydel, Teddy Turner, Rhett Turner, Beau Turner, and Jennie Turner Garlington.
In 2018, Turner shared he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, in which protein deposits called Lewy bodies develop in nerve cells in the brain, affecting thinking, memory and movement, according to Mayo Clinic.
“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 told CBS News at the time. “Thank goodness I don’t have that.”
