BOZEMAN — Ted Turner, one of America’s most famous media moguls and one of its largest land conservationists, has died at 87 in Lamont, Florida, surrounded by his family. A gritty entrepreneur with a large appetite for risk — and land — Turner funneled much of his wealth into conservation-oriented properties that span 2 million acres across the West and Midwest.
In Montana, Turner is known for his 1989 purchase of the 113,600-acre Flying D Ranch south of Bozeman, for restoring bison and other beleaguered species, and for being an early and enthusiastic champion of placing land in protective conservation easements.
Holly Pippel moved to Gallatin County from Georgia in 1995 to become an equine manager for Turner. She described him as a sensitive man with a voracious appetite for knowledge.
“We spent a lot of time together on horseback, hashing out all kinds of things: conservation, wildlife, things that were struggling, success stories,” she said in a Wednesday morning interview. “He just had that boyish curiosity with smarts and the unwavering drive to make things better for wildlife — and really for the planet and humanity as a whole.”
Turner used his passion for entertaining to fuel his interests, Pippel said. He regularly hosted musicians, movie stars, politicians, ”the whole gamut” in Montana.
“He was acutely aware of what was going on in the world and locally — not just wildlife, habitat, clean water and native fish and things like that — but wars, things that were going on in other countries that were impacting humanity,” Pippel said. “He was just so multifaceted and interested in people.”
Scott Bosse, American Rivers’ Northern Rockies Regional Director, offered that Turner’s contributions to conservation will have lasting impacts in the Treasure State.”
“Ted was a complex, incredibly accomplished, and uniquely American figure,” Bosse wrote in a May 6 Facebook post. “I will remember him most for his commitment to conservation, which was second to none. Through his foundation, he generously supported my work to protect Montana’s rivers for many years.”
In other circles, Turner was known for owning the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks, and for his passion for sailing. When he was 38 years old, he won the America’s Cup, an experience he later described as a high point of his life. Unsurprisingly, the CNN founder developed a reputation for eschewing moderation. The New York Times noted the turbulence in Turner’s personal life in an obituary that highlighted his achievements and contradictions.
“His three marriages — his last, ending in 2001, was to the Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda — were often rocked by his open displays of infidelity, heavy drinking and otherwise boorish behavior,” journalist Jonathan Kandell wrote.
Amy Padnani, the Times’ obituaries editor, added that Turner’s influence on media continues to reverberate, even outside his cable TV and film industry wheelhouses.
Turner “transformed not just television but the tempo of journalism itself,” she wrote. “My own career has unfolded inside that acceleration, where the day’s events rarely wait for tomorrow’s paper.”
In a 1988 Reader’s Digest article, Turner nodded to the monumental scope of his ambitions. “I’m trying to set the all-time record for achievement by one person in one lifetime,” he said.
Turner rolled humanitarian endeavors into that larger ambition. In 1997, he made a $1 billion donation to the United Nations that sought to aid refugees and children, clear land mines and fight disease.
Todd Wilkinson, an environmental writer who partnered with Turner to write the 2013 book Last Stand: Ted Turner’s Quest to Save a Troubled Planet, wrote in a Facebook post that Turner was a “massive figure” with a reflective side that might not have been obvious to outside observers. (Turner’s brashness and opinionated nature garnered him a nickname he didn’t apparently relish: “The Mouth of the South.”)
“He liked to rise before dawn, have a yoga stretching session with Karen Averitt who oversaw his life in Montana, and then take a walk,” Wilkinson wrote. “We had many of our best conversations on those walks. Ted set a new standard for how a private individual can be a steward in myriad ways.”
Turner expounded on his priorities in a 2017 interview with Mountain Outlaw, arguing that wealth and conservation need not be mutually exclusive.
“It’s a myth that in order to make money, you have to trash the environment or that if you protect the environment, it’s going to cost our nation in lost economic productivity,” he said. “That mentality should have faded long ago, and truthfully, when it comes to the current state of our environment, we can’t afford to think that way anymore.”
Elise Atchison, the Livingston-based author of Crazy Mountain, a novel exploring the detrimental effects of growth and development on ecosystems, homed in on Turner’s land-preservation legacy in a social media post. She wrote that while she’s always been more drawn to art and wilderness than money or fame, she appreciates the ecological repercussions of Turner’s conservation ethos.
“The only benefit I could ever see in having lots of money was to protect large swathes of wild areas. Ted Turner was rich and chose to do just that with his vast wealth,” she wrote. “Some people hated him for it, some people love him for it, but the fact remains that however you felt about him, he did preserve large intact ecosystems. RIP Ted Turner. Your conservation easements live on.”
Although Gallatin County voters have consistently supported efforts to conserve open and working lands, some Montanans lament limited public access to Turner’s properties.
In a 2016 piece for Outside Bozeman, Pony resident Tom Elpel cheered Turner’s conservation ethos but bristled at the “No Trespassing” signs Turner posted on his land, which total about 130,000 acres distributed across multiple Montana ranches.
“Turner arguably set the precedent and created the model for other billionaires to follow,” Elpel opined.
Turner is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Pippel said she expects the next generation of Turners will pick up Ted’s mantle; Turner often described philanthropic endeavors as a good way to stay close to his family and build his descendants’ financial literacy.
“He’s got very passionate kids and grandkids,” Pippel said. “They’re picking up the ball. They’re moving forward.”
