Charles Dolan, TV pioneer who founded HBO and Cablevision, dies at 98

TV pioneer Charles F. Dolan, who founded multiple media companies, including Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died. He was 98. 

“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved father and patriarch, Charles Dolan, the visionary founder of HBO and Cablevision,” his family said in a statement to Newsday.

A family spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal he “passed away peacefully from natural causes, surrounded by his loved ones.”

“Remembered as both a trailblazer in the television industry and a devoted family man, his legacy will live on,” the spokesperson added.

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Charles F. Dolan has died at the age of 98. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

Dolan’s legacy in cable TV includes founding Home Box Office, which later became known as HBO, in 1972 and founding Cablevision the following year. He also launched the American Movie Classics television station in 1984.

He was also founder and chairman emeritus of The Lustgarten Foundation in Uniondale, New York, which conducts pancreatic cancer research.

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Dr. William Baker, Catherine Williams and Charles Dolan, CEO of Cablevision, attend the 2011 Center For Communications Luncheon at The Pierre Hotel on October 17, 2011 in New York City. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

Additionally, he launched News 12 in New York City, the first 24-hour cable channel for local news in the U.S.

Dolan, a Cleveland native whose primary home was in Cove Neck Village on Long Island in New York, also held controlling stakes in companies that owned Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, according to Newsday.

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Neil Sedaka, Charles Dolan and Diana Feldman. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

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The cable TV pioneer is survived by six children, 19 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Helen Ann Dolan, died last year.

The Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.