Media mogul Sumner Redstone dies at 97
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Source: Associated Press, via the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Media mogul Sumner Redstone dies at 97
The Associated Press Aug 12, 2020 Updated 10 min ago
Sumner Redstone, who built a media empire from his family's drive-in movie chain, has died. He was 97.
ViacomCBS Inc., which he led for decades, remembered Redstone for his "unparalleled passion to win, his endless intellectual curiosity, and his complete dedication to the company."
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His tight-fisted grip on the National Amusements theater chain, which controlled CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. through voting stock, was passed to his daughter Shari Redstone, who battled top executives to re-merge the two entities that split in 2006.
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Besides being ruthless, Redstone was known for being doggedly determined. In 1979, he survived a fire at Boston's Copley Plaza Hotel by gripping a third-floor window ledge with his right arm still inside. He suffered third-degree burns over half his body, his right wrist was nearly severed, and he was told he would never walk again. But he eventually recovered, and even was able to play tennis by strapping the racket to his wrist.
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Redstone graduated first in his class from Boston Latin School in 1940 and completed his education at Harvard in less than three years. He was selected to work on an Army intelligence team during World War II that cracked Japan’s military codes.
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Read more: https://richmond.com/news/national/media-mogul-sumner-redstone-dies-at-97/article_bfcca003-89e3-5c04-8411-937aad588c81.html