Portrait of Alan Gerry

Rank #2650

Alan Gerry

Net worth $1.5B

Cable television · United States

Born
Dec 25, 1928
Age
97
Source
Cable television
Residence
Liberty, New York
Citizenship
United States
Marital status
Married
Children
3
Education
Drop Out, High School

Net worth over time

Biography

  • Alan Gerry started building a cable TV network in upstate New York in 1956.
  • It became Cablevision Industries, which at its peak had 64 cable systems in 18 states.
  • Gerry sold Cablevision Industries to Time Warner in 1996 for a reported $2.7 billion; he pocketed an estimated $900 million.
  • He used that money to start own venture capital firm, Granite Associates, in 1996 to invest in emerging communications technologies.
  • Gerry bought the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival and a decade later turned the location into the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, an 800-acre cultural center
  • Gerry initially got into cable to increase demand for TV sets--he owned a television repair shop.