Celebrating Ted
On March 7, 2023, GW held a special event honoring Ted Turner and welcoming John Sutter, the Ted Turner Professor of Environmental Media.
Frank Sesno, who spent 21 years at CNN as an anchor, White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief and now director of strategic initiatives for SMPA, hosted the event at GW’s Jack Morton Auditorium.
The event began with a video tribute to Turner in which those who knew him described him as a bold, audacious man who changed the world. Throughout his career, Turner gained recognition for his entrepreneurial acumen, sharp business skills, a vision that transformed television and his unprecedented philanthropy.
Many were on hand to pay tribute to Ted’s legacy as a media pioneer and leading conservationist including Wolf Blitzer, Hon. Doc. ’07, and anchor of "The Situation Room", CNN's chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour, president and CEO of Hallmark Media Wonya Lucas, former president and CEO of the United Nations Foundation Kathy Calvin, and CNN chair and CEO Chris Licht.
The event concluded with remarks from John Sutter, the inaugural Ted Turner Visiting Professor of Environmental Media, and the reading of a letter from Ted Turner by his children, Laura Turner Seydel and Robert “Teddy” Turner IV.
Learn more about the Ted Turner Endowment
"He was absolutely the leader without whom none of this would have been possible. And he created a completly different framework with which the world would see each other and see itself."
Christiane Amanpour
Chief International Anchor for CNN