Charles Wang, 74, dies, tech CEO who got hockey in China

OYSTER BAY, New York — Charles Wang, a technology company founder and former owner of the New York Islanders hockey team, died Sunday. He was 74.

Wang, who was born in Shanghai and moved to the US with his family as a child, died in Oyster Bay, New York, his attorney John McEntee said in a statement. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Wang was the founder of software company Computer Associates, now called CA Technologies, based in Islandia, New York, and was CEO until 2000.

National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman issued a statement praising Wang for his efforts to expand ice hockey in China. Wang created Project Hope, an program that took the sport to China.

"As the NHL embarks on a journey to grow hockey in China, we do so with the appreciation and knowledge that it was Charles who was the vision and driving force at the forefront of developing the game in his native country," Bettman said.

In 2015, the Islanders drafted Beijing native Song Andong, making him the first player born in China to be selected in an NHL draft.

Wang "was an entrepreneur, visionary, author and philanthropist but will be remembered most affectionately by those who knew him for his love of life, family, and friends," McEntee said in his statement.

Wang bought the Islanders in 2000 along with Sanjay Kumar, then the president of Computer Associates International, which Wang founded in 1976. He later bought out Kumar's stake in 2004. Kumar pleaded guilty in an accounting fraud scandal at the company in 2006 and served a prison term. A 2007 report by the company's board blamed Wang in connection to the accounting scandal, but Wang called the report "fallacious" and blamed Kumar. Wang was never charged in the case.

At the time of the Islanders' purchase, Wang told The New York Times, "We want to make the New York Islanders the world-class sports franchise that our community deserves, wants and needs."

Wang had attended only one hockey game before buying the team for almost $190 million, McEntee said.

But in 2009, he told Newsday he regretted buying the money-losing team, saying, "If I had the chance, I wouldn't do it again."

Wang announced in 2014 that he was selling the team to a group of investors, and it took effect in 2016. Since then, he had been a minority co-owner.

The team left Long Island in 2015 and played in Brooklyn. It will begin splitting games between the two locales later this season.

Survivors include his wife, children, mother and brothers.

AP — CHINA DAILY