Charles Wang, the computer industry executive who became a co-owner of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers hockey team, died yesterday at the age of 74. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Born in Shanghai, China, in 1944, Wang came to the U.S. in 1952. He co-founded Computer Associates International, now known as CA Technologies, in 1976 with Russell Artzt, a classmate from Queens College.
In 2000, at the urging of then-U.S. Sen. Al D”™Amato, Wang and business partner Sanjay Kumar bought the National Hockey League”™s New York Islanders in 2000 for $187.5 million. Wang served as a majority owner through 2016, when he sold his majority stake for $485 million and became a minority co-owner. The Islanders acquired the Sound Tigers in 2004 as its American Hockey League affiliate for an undisclosed sum.
Outside of hockey, Wang also acquired the Iowa Barnstormers Arena Football League franchise in 2001 and moved them to Long Island, where they became the New York Dragons.
Wang remained active in the high-tech world, serving as chairman of the digital video company NeuLion from 2008 to 2016. He also authored the books “TechnoVision: The Executive”™s Survival Guide to Understanding and Managing Information Technology” and “Wok Like A Man,” a Chinese recipe cookbook, and served as a philanthropic benefactor to nonprofits including Smile Train and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
