Profile Text
LOS ANGELES – APR 11: Turner at the 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival Gala – “When Harry Met Sally” at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on April 11, 2019 in Los Angeles, CA, kathclick/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Robert Edward Turner III
Date of Birth: November 19, 1938
Place of Birth: Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Date of Death: May 6, 2026
Place of Death: Lamont, Florida, U.S.
Ethnicity: English, German, Irish, distant Swiss-German and Dutch, remote Cornish, Norwegian, and Welsh
Ted Turner was an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, philanthropist, and environmentalist. He created CNN, the first 24-hour news channel, as well as WTBS/later TBS superstation and TNT/Turner Network Television, and helped create Cartoon Network and Russia’s TV-6. He founded the United Nations Foundation and the Goodwill Games, and co-created the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the series Captain Planet and the Planeteers . He also owned World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and co-founded Ted’s Montana Grill. He was nicknamed “The Mouth of the South” and “Captain Outrageous.”
Ted was the son of Florence and Robert Edward Turner II, a billboard magnate, of Turner Outdoor Advertising. He was raised mostly in Savannah, Georgia. He grew up Episcopalian. Ted had two children with his former wife Julia Gale Nye; and three children with his former wife Jane Shirley Smith.
Ted’s paternal grandfather was Robert Edward Turner (the son of Simon Watkins Turner and Katherine Virginia Wellows/Wellons). Robert was born in Winona, Mississippi. Simon was born in Carrollton Carroll, Mississippi, the son of John Thomas Turner and Jane Vernon Hampton Fort. Ted’s great-grandmother Katherine was born in Mississippi, the daughter of Benjamin Hardy Wellons and Caroline Virginia Brumby.
Ted’s paternal grandmother was Maggie Dell/Dill Gaston (the daughter of Daniel Trusvan Gaston and Regina Ann/Anna Lee). Maggie was born in Mississippi. Daniel was the son of Ira Scott Gaston and Artelia Edmonia Lawrence. Regina was born in Dallas, Alabama, the daughter of Paul Lee and Margaret Regina Dill.
Ted’s maternal grandfather was George Francis Rooney (the son of John Joseph Rooney and Ellen Kennedy). George was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. John was born in Cincinnati, the son of George Rooney and Mary Pinnegan. Ellen was born in Cincinnati.
Ted’s maternal grandmother was Florence Marie Sicking (the daughter of Bernard Heinrich “Henry” Sicking and Frances Timmerman). Florence was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Bernard was born in Velen, Kreis Borken, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, the son of Johann Bernard Sicking and Maria Christina Musholt. Ted’s great-grandmother Frances was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of German parents, John Dietrich Timmermann, from Goldenstedt, Oldenburg; and Sophia Weyer, from Schapen, Hanover, Prussia.
Sources: Genealogies of Ted’s parents – https://www.findagrave.com https://www.familysearch.org
Genealogies of Ted Turner (focusing on his father’s side) – https://www.geni.com https://en.geneastar.org