How Ted Turner Changed the World
(And also my life)
There is a small number of people to whom I owe my career, and one of them is Ted Turner. In 1997, he famously pledged a billion dollars to support UN causes, leading to the creation of the United Nations Foundation. The UN Foundation, in turn, was one of my key backers early in my career when I launched the first blog about the UN, UN Dispatch. I would not be doing what I do today if not for his original act of philanthropy.
I had the chance to meet him a few times over the years, including for an on-stage interview on the sidelines of a UN climate conference in Rio in 2012— still one of the highlights of my career. I don’t usually get nervous doing those sorts of things, but I think he could tell I was a little on edge, so he cracked a joke right off the bat to put me at ease. (The interview was about the pioneering children’s television series Captain Planet, which coincided with my own childhood. I made the point that I, born in 1981, was “the Captain Planet Generation.” He retorted: “Well, I was born in 1938 and I created it, so that makes me the Captain Planet Generation.”)
Ted Turner died today at the age of 87.
There are many great obituaries. But if you want the richest biography of the man, I cannot recommend more highly the six-part documentary on MAX about Ted Turner. Call Me Ted delves deeply into both his personal history and business ventures, including the founding of CNN. But for me, the most intriguing part of the documentary is its exploration of Ted Turner's deep commitment to philanthropy.
Ted Turner’s $1 billion pledge in 1997 was the single largest act of philanthropy at the time and inspired many of the other mega-donors in philanthropy today. What makes his commitment even more remarkable was that not long after his pledge, he lost a huge fortune in the AOL-Time Warner merger but still followed through on his pledge.
He was fond of saying “You can’t take it with you,” when discussing why he’d given away so much of his wealth to causes that benefit humanity. Now that he’s gone, it’s worth taking a moment to remember what a difference he made—from the founding of the UN Foundation, The Goodwill Games, the Nuclear Threat Initiative and so many other causes to benefit the global good.
Rest in Power, Ted. And thank you.
My podcast conversation with “Call Me Ted” filmmaker Keith Clarke is freely available across all podcast listening platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. However, if you are inspired by Ted’s story and want to support humanitarian journalism and my reporting on the UN, please back Global Dispatches with your paid subscription.
There was something inspiring about watching people like Ted Turner build vast empires and then turn their hearts toward preserving the land, protecting migration paths, and giving something meaningful back to the world that helped them succeed.
Growing up around the spirit of John Denver and the Windstar Foundation, it’s hard not to wonder where those kinds of empire builders are today, the ones who understand that success means more than accumulation, that it also carries a responsibility to care for people and the planet.
Maybe the most powerful thing any of us can do now is choose carefully where we spend our money, supporting brands that honor the dignity of their employees, respect the rights of their customers, and remember that compassion is just as important as profit.