Charles F. Dolan, who founded some of America’s most prominent media companies, including Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died at age 98, according to a news report.
A statement issued Saturday by his family said Dolan died of natural causes, Newsday reported Saturday night.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved father and patriarch, Charles Dolan, the visionary founder of HBO and Cablevision,” the statement said.
Dolan’s legacy in cable broadcasting includes the 1972 launch of Home Box Office, later known as HBO, and the founding of Cablevision in 1973 and the American Movie Classics television station in 1984. He also launched News 12 in the city of New York, the first 24-hour cable television channel. local news channel in the United States, Newsday reported.
The Cleveland native, who dropped out of John Carroll University in suburban Cleveland, completed the sale of Cablevision to Altice, a European telecommunications and cable company, for $17.7 billion in June 2016.
Dolan, whose primary home was in Cove Neck Village on New York’s Long Island, also had majority stakes in companies that owned Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, Newsday reported.
James L. Dolan, one of his sons, was the CEO of Cablevision from 1995 until the sale to Altice in 2016. He is now the executive chairman and CEO of Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. The company owns the Knicks franchises and the Rangers, among other properties, according to the MSG Sports website.
Newsday, which Cablevision bought in 2008, also came under Altice’s control with the sale. Patrick Dolan, another son of Charles Dolan, led a group that bought back 75% of Newsday Media Group in July 2016. Patrick Dolan then bought the remaining 25% stake in 2018.
At the time of his death, Charles Dolan and his family had a net worth of $5.4 billion, Forbes reported.
Dolan was founder and president emeritus of the Lustgarten Foundation in Uniondale, New York, which conducts pancreatic cancer research.
He is survived by six children, 19 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Helen Ann Dolan, died in 2023, Newsday reported.
