Topline
Charles Dolan, the billionaire founder of HBO and Cablevision whose family owns Madison Square Garden and AMC Networks, died Saturday from natural causes, the Dolan family announced in a statement.
Key Facts
Dolan, 98, died of natural causes while surrounded by loved ones, his family said in a statement to Newsday, an outlet owned by Charles’ son Patrick.
The Dolan family said Charles will be remembered as a “trailblazer in the television industry” and a “devoted family man,” and is survived by six children, 19 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, Newsday reported.
It’s not immediately clear where Dolan was at the time of his death, though Charles Dolan primarily lived in Cove Neck Village on Long Island in New York.
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Forbes Valuation
Dolan and his family have a fortune valued at $5.4 billion, according to our latest estimates. Dolan and his six children own controlling stakes in AMC Networks and Madison Square Garden’s entertainment and sports companies, which include the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, run by Dolan’s son James.
Key Background
Born in Cleveland in 1926, Charles Dolan moved with his wife Helen to New York City in the early 1950s to work for a television news service. Dolan grew his initial fortune by securing wiring rights for lower Manhattan and founded HBO’s predecessor, which he sold in 1973 to fund a new cable system, Cablevision. He founded the American Movie Classics network in 1984, later becoming AMC Networks, and his son James served as Cablevision’s CEO until 2016, when the company was sold to Altice for $17.7 billion. Dolan is also the founder and chairman emeritus of the Lustgarten Foundation, the world’s largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research.
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