MEDIACOM PARK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 16, 2026--
With profound sadness, Mediacom Communications announces the passing of Rocco B. Commisso, the company’s founder, chairman, and chief executive officer. Commisso was one of the most successful Italian immigrant entrepreneurs in our nation’s history. A member of the prestigious Forbes 400, his illustrious career with the cable television industry spans nearly 50 years.
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Commisso founded Mediacom in 1995 to acquire and reinvigorate cable systems in the nation’s underserved smaller communities. In 2000, he directed a successful initial public offering for Mediacom, paving the way for the company’s dramatic growth into the nation’s 5th largest cable television provider, offering high-speed data, video, phone, and mobile services to over 3 million households and businesses in 22 states. He took the company private in 2011, and now Mediacom is wholly owned by the Commisso family.
Commisso began his business career at Pfizer Inc.’s manufacturing facility in Brooklyn, NY. After graduating from business school in 1975, he spent a decade in the financial community, initially at Chase Manhattan Bank (now J.P. Morgan Chase) and then at Royal Bank of Canada, where he led the bank’s U.S. lending activities to companies in the media and communications sectors. From 1986 to 1995, he served as executive vice president, chief financial officer, and director of Cablevision Industries Corporation. During his tenure there, privately held Cablevision Industries grew from the 25th to the 8th largest cable company in the nation, serving 1.3 million customers at the time of its merger with Time Warner.
Commisso previously served on the boards of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, C-SPAN, CableLabs, Cyndx LLC, and the National Italian American Foundation. During his distinguished business career, he was bestowed with numerous awards and honors, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year Award, the National Italian American Foundation’s Life Achievement Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership, the cable industry’s highest honor. Commisso was inducted into several esteemed organizations including the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, the Cable Center Hall of Fame, and the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame. Under his leadership, Mediacom was named a U.S. Best Managed Company by Deloitte Private and the Wall Street Journal from 2021 to 2025. In 2023, Commisso’s incredible life story was featured by 60 Minutes in a segment entitled “Only in America.”
Born in Calabria, Italy, Commisso immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12. He graduated from Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx in 1967. He attended Columbia University on a full undergraduate scholarship where he earned both a BS degree in industrial engineering and an MBA degree from the Graduate Business School. At the Business School, he was elected president of the student body and was the recipient of the prestigious Business School Service Award.
Commisso played soccer for the Columbia Lions in the 1967–1970 period. He was a member of a freshman squad that finished with an undefeated record and served as co-captain of the 1970 team that made Columbia’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Playoffs. For his exploits on the field, Commisso became a three-time All-Ivy League Honoree and was invited to try out for the U.S. Soccer Team organized for the 1972 Olympics.
Over his more than 50 years as an alumni supporter of Columbia soccer, the men’s soccer program was among the most successful in the Ivy League and all major sports at the university. In the mid-1970s, he co-founded Friends of Columbia Soccer and, from 1978 to 1986, he was its chairman. During this time, Columbia won 8 straight Ivy Championships and became the only Ivy League school ever to compete in the final game of the NCAA Championship.
In 2004, on the 250th anniversary of Columbia’s founding, the school’s newspaper, the Daily Spectator, listed Commisso among Columbia’s 250 greatest undergraduate alumni of all time. For many years, Columbia has awarded an annual Men’s Soccer Prize in his name. In 2013, Columbia recognized his contributions to the university by naming its soccer venue, at the school’s Baker Athletics Complex, the Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.
Throughout his life, Commisso poured significant personal and corporate resources into funding educational opportunities for young people. Through Mediacom’s World Class Scholars Program, September 11th Memorial Scholarship Fund, Entrepreneur of Tomorrow Award, and other initiatives, he provided educational scholarships to 4,000 students nationwide. In 2014, he established the Rocco B. Commisso American Dream Fund at his high school in the Bronx - Mount Saint Michael Academy - to ensure that the school can continue to recruit and educate deserving young men for generations to come. In 2022, he and his wife established the Rocco and Catherine Commisso Scholarship at Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science which is designed to annually benefit a cohort of up to 20 students in perpetuity.
In January 2017, Commisso purchased a majority ownership stake in the New York Cosmos and became the club’s chairman. The Cosmos are the most recognized American soccer brand in the world. After beginning play at Yankee Stadium in 1971, the iconic club won a record total of 8 professional soccer championships and brought some of the biggest stars in international soccer to the USA including Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, Carlos Alberto, and more recently, Raúl and Marcos Senna. In July 2025, the New York Cosmos were acquired by North Jersey Pro Soccer based in Paterson, NJ. The Commisso family continues to maintain a minority ownership stake in the club.
In June 2019, Commisso acquired world-renowned ACF Fiorentina and became president of the decorated Italian soccer club. Since its founding in 1926, Fiorentina has been based in beautiful Florence, a city known throughout the world for representing the very best of Italy’s culture. Commonly referred to as La Viola for its distinctive purple colors, Fiorentina competes in Serie A, the top division of Italian soccer. His lasting contribution to the historic club is Rocco B. Commisso Viola Park, the state-of-the-art sporting center opened in 2023 that serves as the permanent home for all ACF Fiorentina’s football teams, including the men’s, women’s, and youth squads.
ABOUT MEDIACOM COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION
Mediacom Communications Corporation is the 5th largest cable operator in the United States and the leading gigabit broadband provider to smaller markets primarily in the Midwest and Southeast. Through its fiber-rich network, Mediacom offers high-speed data, video, phone, and mobile services to over 3 million households and businesses across 22 states. The company delivers scalable broadband solutions to commercial and public-sector customers of all sizes through Mediacom Business and sells advertising and production services under the OnMedia brand. More information about Mediacom is available at mediacomcable.com.
Rocco B. Commisso
