Media Executive Ted Turner to speak at HLS Class Day

R.E. (Ted) Turner, board chairman and president of Turner Broadcasting System Inc. (TBS), will be the Law School's 1996 Commencement Speaker.

Turner will deliver his address during Class Day ceremonies on Wednesday, June 5, at 2:30 p.m., on the steps of Langdell Hall, 1545 Massachusetts Ave.

Previous Class Day speakers have included U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun.

Turner's Atlanta-based company is a leading supplier of entertainment, news, and sports programming worldwide through its ownership of TBS Superstation, Cable News Network (CNN), Headline News, CNN International (CNNI), Turner Network Television (TNT), SportSouth, TNT Latin America, Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network Latin America, TNT in Europe, Cartoon Network in Europe, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), TNT & Cartoon Network in Asia Pacific, CNN Airport Network, CNNfn-the financial network, Castle Rock Entertainment, New Line Cinema, and Turner Pictures.

Turner was born in Cincinnati. He graduated from Brown University, where he was vice president of the Debating Union.

Turner is chairman and board member of the National Cable Television Association, and board member of the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Change, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and the International Founders Council of the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. He is president of the Turner Foundation, the Turner family's private grant-making organization, focusing on population and the environment.

Turner is an active environmentalist and has received numerous civic and industry awards and honors, including being named Time Magazine's 1991 Man of the Year. He is married to actress and businesswoman Jane Fonda.