Ted Turner: Of Two Minds and Two Worlds
May 11, 2026 By Theodore Roosevelt Malloch Wikimedia Commons Share this post? Facebook X Truth Social The American media mogul and icon Ted Turner has died at age 87. Although he was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, his family soon moved to Georgia. He will long be remembered as the “Mouth of the South,” who instigated a revolution in 24-hour news, raising the bar with CNN and christening the era of cable news. Turner was a most complex figure who suffered from schizophrenia and took large doses of lithium to combat it. He led a life of manic depression, caused in part by the suicide of his own father at 53 and difficulties inherent in combating mental illness. That should serve as both a warning and a compliment, as his achievements are balanced with his defeats. Ted was a bombastic soul who developed a business no one thought possible. He was also a great sailor and won the America’s Cup. He owned the Atlanta Braves and took them on to win the World Series. I knew and worked wi...