Charles Dolan, the billionaire founder of HBO and Cablevision whose family owns Madison Square Garden, has died at age 98, his family said Saturday.

Dolan died of natural causes, said a statement from Newsday, which has been owned by the Dolan family since 2008.

“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 career began in New York City in 1952, when he was just 26 years old.

Dolan – the father of New York Knicks chairman James Dolan – founded Sterling Manhattan Cable in 1962, which had exclusive contracts with New York professional sports teams, including the Knicks and Rangers.

Ten years later, in 1972, the Air Force veteran founded Home Box Office – now commonly known as HBO – the first premium cable channel of its kind that would revolutionize the way people watch television.

The following year, 1973, Dolan founded Cablevision, the cable company of which he was still chairman.

Dolan, whose family has a net worth of about $5.4 billion according to Forbes, also founded News12 in New York City, the first 24-hour local news cable network in the United States.

He leaves behind six children, 19 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

His wife, Helen Ann Dolan, died in 2023.