Charles Dolan

Charles Dolan
Dolan in 2016
Born
Charles Francis Dolan

(1926-10-16)October 16, 1926
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedDecember 28, 2024(2024-12-28) (aged 98)
EducationJohn Carroll University
(dropped out)
TitleFounder of Cablevision and HBO
Spouse
Helen Ann Dolan
​
​
(m. 1951; died 2023)​
Children6, including James L.
RelativesLarry J. Dolan (brother)
Paul J. Dolan (nephew)
Matt Dolan (nephew)
Military career
AllegianceUnited States
Branch
United States Army Air Forces
Conflicts
World War II

Charles Francis Dolan (October 16, 1926 – December 28, 2024) was an American billionaire businessman and media mogul, best known as founder of Cablevision and HBO. Today, the Dolan family controls Madison Square Garden Sports, MSG Networks, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Madison Square Garden, the Sphere, Radio City Music Hall, BBC America, and AMC Networks. As of December 2024, his net worth was estimated at US$5.4 billion.

Early life

Dolan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 16, 1926. He was of Irish Catholic descent. He was the son of Corinne (Henson) and David Dolan, an inventor who sold a patent to the Ford Motor Company. He served in the United States Army Air Forces at the end of World War II and studied at John Carroll University, before dropping out and entering the telecommunications field.

Career

Dolan's earliest professional endeavors focused on the packaging, marketing, and distribution of sports and industrial films, which he produced with his wife in their Cleveland home and then sold to televisions stations which syndicated the material. Dolan sold his interests to Telenews in exchange for a job, and when he was 26 years old, he moved to New York City and founded Teleguide Inc, a service that provided information to hotels.

In the 1960s, Dolan founded Sterling Manhattan Cable, the first company to wire buildings to have cable television access. In its early years, Sterling forged first-of-its-kind agreements to bring New York professional sports teams, cultural programming, and movies into the homes of New York City cable viewers, including agreements with the New York Knicks and New York Rangers. Two years later, he sold Sterling Cable's Manhattan operations to Time Inc. and renamed his Long Island business Cablevision Systems.

In the early 1970s, Dolan founded Home Box Office, the first premium programming service in the cable television industry, which he sold to Time Life. Later, he organized Cablevision Systems Corporation on Long Island and spearheaded many of the company's advancements. After that, he was the vision behind VOOM, Cablevision's effort to expand content delivery and meet the demands of the exploding HDTV market, which was expected to include six million households by the end of 2003 and 12 million by year-end 2005, but was shut down when other directors deemed it financially unsustainable.

From 2001 through early 2002, Dolan was a bidder in the sale of the Boston Red Sox. He submitted a maximum bid of $750 million, but ultimately lost out to a group headed by John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino.

In 2016, Dolan sold Cablevision to Patrick Drahi's Altice USA for $17.7 billion.

In 2017, Dolan and his wife Helen were co-recipients of the Double Helix Medal with Tom Brokaw.

Personal life and death

Dolan and his wife resided in Oyster Bay, New York. They had six children, including James L. Dolan, who is executive chairman of the Madison Square Garden Sports and its professional sports teams, the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, and Patrick Dolan, principal owner and publisher of Newsday.

Dolan's younger brother, Larry J. Dolan, and his nephew, Paul J. Dolan, co-owned the Cleveland Guardians from 2000 to 2025. His other nephew, Matt Dolan, is a Republican politician who formerly served in the Ohio Senate. Larry died two months after Charles in February 2025. However, Paul remains the lead owner of the Guardians.

He was married to Helen Ann Dolan from 1951 until her death in 2023. Dolan died on December 28, 2024, at the age of 98.

Politics

Dolan and his wife contributed $125,000 to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.

Donations

The Fairfield University Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University is named in recognition of Dolan's $25 million donation in 2000 and his service to the university as a member of the board of trustees.

The Dolan Center for Science and Technology is John Carroll University's showcase building. Completed in 2003 at a cost of over $66 million, it houses JCU's science departments, including Mathematics and Computer Science.

Affiliations and honors

References

  1. ↑ "Corporate Leadership | Charles Dolan". Cablevision. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Forbes profile: Charles Dolan & family". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Lawrence Dolan Obituary (1931 - 2025) - Cleveland, OH - Cleveland.com". Archived from the original on February 26, 2025. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
  4. ↑ "HBO and Cablevision founder Charles Dolan dies at 98". January 10, 2025.
  5. ↑ "Charles Dolan" (PDF). Cable Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 11, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Charles Dolan". Cable Center 2000 Honorees. Archived from the original on August 4, 2021.
  7. ↑ "The richest Irish man alive. Bet you don't know who he is". IrishCentral. January 22, 2011. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Harris, Kathryn (December 11, 1994). "CABLE READY : Maverick CEO Charles Dolan's Vision Makes Cablevision a Powerhouse". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  9. 1 2 "Charles Dolan". Bloomberg News. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  10. 1 2 3 4 de la Merced, Michael J. (September 17, 2015). "The Dolans, the Clan That Built the Cablevision Empire, Say Goodbye". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  11. ↑ "The New York Historical". www.nyhistory.org. Retrieved March 12, 2026.
  12. ↑ Gent, George (July 12, 1973). "SterlingW Will Bring Pay TV to Manhattan Next Fall". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 17, 2019. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  13. ↑ Rather, John (June 19, 1988). "Long Island Interview: Charles F. Dolan: A Cable Pioneer Sees a New Age of TV Dawning". The New York Times. p. LI-2. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 10, 2023. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  14. ↑ Grant, Peter (January 24, 2005). "At Cablevision, Father-Son Split Looms Over Future". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  15. ↑ "The Spirit of Voom". SpaceNews. April 18, 2005. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  16. ↑ "Sale of Red Sox approved". CBC. January 16, 2002. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  17. ↑ Vaillancourt, Meg (December 21, 2001). "Red Sox reach deal to sell team for record $700m". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  18. ↑ Roncero-Menendez, Sara (November 16, 2017). "12th Double Helix Medals dinner raises $4.5 million for research & education at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory". Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  19. ↑ Finnigan, William (March 13, 2023). "The Fight Over Penn Station and Madison Square Garden". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  20. ↑ James Dolan profile. Wall Street Journal. Archived at the Wayback Machine (archived March 4, 2016).
  21. ↑ Ember, Sydney (July 7, 2016). "Dolan Family Repurchases Newsday". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 29, 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  22. ↑ "Dolan family known for the Cleveland Guardians, Cablevision: PD 175". The Plain Dealer. November 22, 2017. Archived from the original on July 29, 2018. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  23. 1 2 "Cleveland Guardians owner Lawrence J. Dolan dies at 94". Associated Press. February 24, 2025. Retrieved February 25, 2025.
  24. ↑ Tobias, Andrew J. (February 22, 2024). "Ohio Senate Race: Matt Dolan bucks GOP trends, selling experience over Trump loyalty". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
  25. 1 2 "Charles Dolan, media pioneer and Cablevision founder, dies at 98". Newsday. December 28, 2024. Archived from the original on December 29, 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  26. ↑ Bell, Mandy (February 24, 2025). "Guardians owner Larry Dolan, a true fan at heart, dies at 94". MLB.com. Retrieved February 25, 2025.
  27. ↑ Weprin, Alex (December 29, 2024). "Charles Dolan, HBO Founder and Pioneering Cable TV Mogul, Dies at 98". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  28. ↑ Tindera, Michela (February 25, 2021). "Here Are The Billionaires Who Donated To Donald Trump's 2020 Presidential Campaign". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 22, 2024. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  29. ↑ "Fairfield University's business school a valuable resource". Archived November 15, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Fairfield County Business Journal. January 20, 2003.
  30. ↑ "Explore the Dolan Center for Science and Technology – Mathematics and Computer Science". College of Arts and Sciences. John Carroll University. October 2016. Archived at the Wayback Machine (archived May 28, 2019).
  31. ↑ Smith, Sean (April 11, 2002). "Cablevision Founder to Be Honored at NY Dinner". Boston College Chronicle. Vol. 10, no. 15. p. 5. Retrieved December 29, 2024 – via Boston College Libraries.
  32. ↑ "Congratulations Dr. Charles F. Dolan". Fairfield University. November 2, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016 – via Vimeo.