Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and one of America’s largest landowners , died on May 6, 2026, at 87, leaving behind a legacy of philanthropy and environmental efforts. “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,” current CNN CEO Mark Thompson said of the billionaire businessman and news broadcasting pioneer. Robert Edward Turner III, later known as “The Mouth of the South” for his outspoken nature, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 19, 1938. With money from his father’s billboard advertising business that he’d inherited, Turner bought the television station that would become TBS in 1975. Five years later, he founded the Cable News Network, or CNN. It was the first 24-hour news station. He later founded the stations TNT, Cartoon Network, and Turner Classic Movies. Through TBS, he purchased the Atlanta Braves baseball team in 1976; the following year, he bought the Atlanta Hawks basketball team.…