John Rigas, Cable TV Pioneer Who Landed in Prison, Dies at 96
- He founded Adelphia Communications with his brother in 1950s
- Rigas and son Timothy were imprisoned for looting the company
John Rigas, the cable television pioneer who devoted half a century to building Adelphia Communications Corp. into the nation’s sixth-largest operator, only to be convicted of looting the company and driving it into bankruptcy, has died. He was 96.
His death was confirmed by William Brennan Jr., a funeral director at the Thomas E. Fickinger Funeral Home in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Rigas lived, according to the New York Times. He had been diagnosed with bladder cancer in the 1990s.