In the early 1980s he helped rural cable entrepreneurs, like Adelphia's John Rigas, finance their expansions.
Nothing the Rigas family stands accused of compares to the looting of New York City Traction or the Rock Island line.
Shortly after, small towns in Pennsylvania started bringing in television by wire, which Rigas realized would cost him box-office receipts.
Before Golisano took charge, the Sabres were owned by John Rigas, founder and chief executive officer of cable giant Adelphia Communications.
One reason is that equity is an especially hard sell for Rigas and his three sons, who hold 30% of Adelphia.
Professor Rigas Doganis, visiting professor at the UK's College of Aeonautics at Cranfield University, said new aircraft types tended to experience teething problems.
John Rigas never took the time to eat his 76th-birthday cake.
Rigas wasn't talking about his health, although he's rebounded from triple-bypass surgery last year and only skips the office occasionally for treatment at the Mayo Clinic.
"It is an overused term, but right now it's all about execution, " says Timothy Rigas, second-oldest son and the man running the company day to day.
What about John Rigas , founder of Adelphia Communications ?
Rigas himself was cautious in his celebrating at dinner earlier.
There are more, too: Martha Stewart, Dennis Kozlowski, John Rigas.
Too much debt can snatch a company out of their hands entirely ask the Rigas family, which lost their overleveraged Adelphia Communications (and saw two of their own go to jail) in 2002.
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Gregory Earls , two former Kmart (otc: KMRTQ - news - people ) executives and Adelphia Communications (otc: ADELQ - news - people ) founder John Rigas , all of whom have been accused of skulduggery.
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