Ted Turner's Obituary

   Photo by Engin Akyuck                                           

Mike Smerconish, a talking head for CNN, commented that there was not much in any articles, reflections or obituaries for Ted Turner that mentioned that he suffered from Manic Depression. Mike who is a former EA parent and friend was making the point that there is a stigma to a person making public his mental health issues. He also added that there are some people who have Manic Depression who have been great leaders partly because of Manic depression. He uses the examples of Lincoln, Churchill, Sherman, Ghandi, FDR, JFK, and Martin Luther King.

Turner is one of the great ones in our society who is a legend. He started CNN from a small TV station to one that I choose to follow. He was an outdoorsman and a philanthropist particularly supporting the outdoors. He bought thousands of acres of land so that they would remain untouched. For some he was difficult to live with that his wives found out and divorced him including Jane Fonda. He is regarded as one of the builders of the 20^th century.

Mike’s point is made about the stigma of mental health issues. It is something that I worked hard to remove that stigma at EA held by students and adults. When I had speakers come in to speak in chapel about the issue of depression, the students who were suffering from that malady sought out me or others. Mike points out that Turner felt no joy in winning the America’s Cup or any of the victories in life. His father died of suicidide.

Mike makes the point that 60 million American adults experienced some form of mental issue.

But I want to add to Mike’s excellent article. I am a big fan of Mike as he defies catagorys such as liberal, conservative, and independent. He’s his own man.

There are two comments that I want to make to highlight some of the issues that he touched on.  

First, is consent or honoring what the person wants said about him.  Ted Turner was treated for Bi-Polar-Manic Depression and was treated with the standard Treatment which was Lithium. This was a transformative medication that changed his life for the better. But he saw himself as someone who had Lewy Body Disease which is where the brain has abnormal protein deposits which damage the brain and have similar characteristics as Alzheimer's Disease.

The family, as most families do, don't mention a psychiatric diagnosis in obituaries because they are, as was the case for Turner, more complicated that just saying the person has Bi-Polar Depression. If Mike perused obituaries or other statements after a person dies, you would have to say he has Bi-Polar Depression which contributed to his late-stage disease which was Lewey Body Syndrome. Think about how often you see that in reflections. Not often. Ted Turner indicated that he had Bi-Polar Deression in his autobiography. Call Me Ted. He wasn’t trying to hide the issue. He indicated to his family that he was dying from Lewy Body Disease. His family was just trying to honor his wishes which in bioethics we refer to as autonomy.

One thing that Mike alludes to after reading Nassir Ghani, a Harvard psychiatrist, can be be found in Ghani’s book .The book is A First-Rate Madness. In essence, it is a book about a theme that I taught in my ethics class. “Everything cuts both ways”.   The manic part is the source of creativity and tThe despressive part builds resilience. Duke University alumnus, William Styron, chronicles his depression in Visible Darkness and how he survived depression and grew from it. He is the creative and resilient author of Sophia's Choice. He wrote seven other novels and received a Pulitzer Prize for Confessions of Nat Turner. He is the winner of many awards.

It reminds me of what is said by many people who are blind. They lose that critical function of sight but can hear and smell more than others. The same dynamic happens in Manic-Depression.

Regarding no obituary for Ted Turner, there are certain ways that we end life that are too complex and may make the matter of one’s death too simple. Sometimes when death comes because of cancer often the kind is not named because there are many kinds. If someone dies of schizophrenia, that would be insufficient as there are so many variations there.

The important issue here is to remember to be positive with your comments regarding another person as you never know what tragedy they are carrying that is often not stated. Nobody gets out of life without being involved in some sort of tragedy. The more famous you are, the more people want to know. I am reminded of a quote that helps me with the injustice of it all in life. Rabbi Kushner wrote: “Tragedy doesn’t have a ticket into our lives. It has a box seat.” That is a great obituary for humanity.