At a UN celebration for Ted Turner, memories of a man who saw the power of global cooperation

One day decades ago, media mogul and CNN founder Ted Turner heard about a washerwoman in Mississippi who donated her life savings of $150,000 for scholarships so that young people could go to college. On Monday, at a celebration of Turner's life, his daughter said he was so inspired by that act of charity that he turned around and donated $1 billion to the United Nations.Laura Turner Seydel recounted her father saying, “Well, I would have to do something really important and big and significant” to match that. A month later, in September 1997, he shocked a U.N. gala dinner after receiving a Global Leadership Award by announcing the gift to U.N. causes — the largest individual donation in history at that time.Stressing the “challenging times” the world now faces, Seydel urged the audience of several hundred people to honor her father by following his example. “Please use your ideas, resources and ambitions to back the institutions that hold the world together,” she urged.The UN was Turn