Charles Dolan, the billionaire HBO and Cablevision founder whose family owned Madison Square Garden, has died at the age of 98, his family announced Saturday.
Dolan died of natural causes, according to a statement reported by Newsday. The facility has been the property of the Dolan family since 2008.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Charles Dolan, our beloved father, patriarch, and visionary founder of HBO and Cablevision,” the statement said.
Dolan's career began in New York City in 1952, when he was just 26 years old.
Dolan, the father of New York Knicks executive chairman James Dolan, founded Sterling Manhattan Cable in 1962, which had exclusive contracts with New York professional sports teams such as the Knicks and Rangers.
Ten years later, in 1972, the Air Force veteran founded Home Box Office (now commonly referred to as HBO). The channel is the first premium cable channel of its kind to revolutionize the way people watch TV.
The following year, in 1973, Dolan founded the cable company Cablevision, of which he still serves as chairman.
Mr. Dolan, whose family has a net worth of about $5.4 billion, according to Forbes, founded News12 in New York City, the first local news 24-hour cable channel in the United States.
He has six children, 19 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
His wife, Helen Ann Dolan, passed away in 2023.
