Yes, he could be outrageous.

When a little girl fell into a well in Texas and the rescue of “Baby Jessica” unfolded live on TV, CNN’s ratings skyrocketed. Ted joked maybe CNN should place candy bars around other wells.

Yet, you could also find him in war-torn regions poking sticks in the ground searching for land mines that children were stepping on, blowing themselves up.

He was complicated. 

Until I met Ted, I thought Lyndon Johnson was the most complex person I had ever known. Before I accepted the job as CNN’s president, I told him, “Ted, before you hire me, you need to know that I battle depression.”

He shot back, “Hell, pal, let me tell you about me.” That’s all he said. It was classic Ted: disarming, revealing, and removed, all at once. 

He was impatient with a restless energy that could make him difficult. If you were late for a meeting with him, it was almost a death sentence. I think the reason he hated delay was because he couldn’t wait to get to the future.

Above all, Ted Turner was a visionary. 

When he founded CNN as a 24-hour news channel, the other networks only provided morning and evening news shows. They would break into regular programming only for major events. 

Ted saw the need for an around-the-clock news network. He envisioned CNN as a truly global channel that would provide honest, reliable, unbiased information to people around the world, especially in countries where independent news was suppressed.

When I was considering accepting the job, I asked Ted what he would expect of the next president of CNN. He said, “I want us to make CNN the absolute best news network on the planet.”

When I asked him, what are your policies about news. He said, “Be fair.” 

He wanted reporters to report, anchors to anchor, and neither to editorialize. He wanted news to be the star, not the personalities.

My first day at CNN was August 1, 1990. The following day, Iraq’s Sadam Hussein invaded Kuwait. I told Ted that if we were to be the premiere news source for a possible war between the U.S. and Iraq, it could cost as much as thirty million dollars over budget. His answer startled me: “You spend whatever you think it takes, pal.”

With Ted’s total support, we established a special communications link, so that when all other networks lost their transmission capabilities from Baghdad all eyes turned to CNN.

Over the eleven years I was with Ted, we covered so many other stories—the fall of the Soviet Union, the OJ Simpson trial, the Balkan Wars, the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the Waco siege, the death of Princess Diana. 

What would those years have been like without CNN?

Ted told me that the most important thing he did in life was raising his five children. A close second was creating CNN.

He was a man of many accomplishments. He won the America’s Cup, the renowned sailing race. He bought the Atlanta Braves and transformed them from one of baseball’s worst teams into one of its best.

You could call those rich man’s toys, but Ted cared far more deeply about the planet. In 1998, he donated one billion dollars and created the United Nations Foundation to fund humanitarian causes such as helping refugees, fighting disease, and clearing landmines.

He worked with former Senator Sam Nunn to reduce the dangers of nuclear weapons with the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

He was a passionate steward of the land. Over the years, he acquired and worked to restore two million acres, cleaning the streams, removing the cattle, and reintroducing bison, gray wolves, and native plants and grasses. His bison herd now numbers over 45,000 head. On those lands, you can see what the Native Americans saw when they roamed there. 

No mention of Ted’s life can ignore the love he had for Jane Fonda. They were remarkable together, sharing both passion and purpose in the common cause for peace.

Ted was dashing and charismatic with the neatly trimmed mustache of a Hollywood leading man of yesterday. He was a swashbuckler whose bravado exuded the promise of daring, romantic adventures. 

Ted was a maverick like no one I have ever known. 

We will miss you, pal. 

Tom Johnson was the President of CNN and is the author of Driven: A Life in Public Service and Journalism from LBJ to CNN.