Robert Edward Turner II: What happened to Ted Turner's father?

Robert Edward Turner II is an American Businessman and the father of Ted Turner. Robert Edward Turner II’s son is best known for founding CNN, the first 24-hour news station, in 1980. The media entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist is also credited for founding WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television, which later became TBS.

Robert Edward Turner II: Bio Summary

Who was Ted Turner’s father?

Robert Edward Turner II was born on 4 July 1911 in Sumner, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, United States of America. He was the son of Maggie Dill Gaston Turner and Robert Edward Turner and the brother of Frances Turner Wood and William Gaston Turner.

He was married to  Florence Turner. The couple were the parents of two children Ted Turner and his sister Mary Jean Turner. From an early age, he was called Ted, while his father, Robert Edward Turner, Jr., was known as Ed. While Ed Turner served in the Navy during World War II, the family followed him to his Gulf Coast post, but young Ted was left behind in a boarding school in Cincinnati.

ALSO, READ; Florence Turner: What happened to Ted Turner’s mother?

Ted Turner’s father was a businessman

When Ted was nine, Ed Turner moved the family to Savannah, Georgia, where he purchased a small billboard company he renamed Turner Advertising. Discipline in the Turner household was always strict. To instill the sense of managing business in his son, Ed made Ted work from an early age. He learned every aspect of the outdoor advertising business, from maintenance to finance.

But Ted Turner’s childhood was not all work. The family business prospered, and Robert Edward Turner II rewarded his son with the gift of a sailing dinghy. At age nine, he began sailing and soon developed a passion for sailboat racing. By age 11, he was competing in the junior regatta of the Savannah Yacht Club.

The family was struck by tragedy when Ed’s daughter Mary Jean passed away after a long and painful illness. Ted threw himself into his work, and his father promoted him to assistant manager of Turner Advertising’s Atlanta branch. According to Achievement, the firm took on large amounts of debt to buy out a competitor. Ed Turner’s health was failing, and the pressures of the merger proved too much for him.

What happened to Ted Turner’s father?

Assignmentpoint revealed Robert Edward Turner II suffered from bipolar disorder and was known to have extreme mood swings. Despite being financially secure, the Turners had a difficult life. Ed was physically abusive sometimes. When Ted was 24, Robert Edward Turner II committed suicide. Ted Tirner’s father died on 5 March 1963 at the age of 51 in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States of America.

ALSO, READ; Julia Gale Nye: What Happened to Ted Turner’s ex-wife?

He was laid to rest at Greenwich Cemetery Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, USA. Leaving Ted Turner, at 24, in charge of a growing, but heavily indebted enterprise, he worked day and night, offering customers a discount for early payment, to increase the amount of cash on hand. Soon, he had stabilized the business and was building a large fortune.

By the end of the decade, the Turner Advertising was one of the largest billboard companies in the Southeast, but Ted Turner recognized that his customers were allocating ever-larger shares of their advertising budgets to radio and television, and he sought opportunities in broadcasting. Today, Ted has a net worth of 2.5 billion USD as of 2023 according to Forbes.

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