Leonard Tow, 97, died peacefully on August 10, 2025, with his loving family and caregivers by his side.
Born on May 30, 1928, in Brooklyn, N.Y., he was the son of Estelle and Louis Tow. Leonard was a resident of New Canaan, Conn., since 1987, and lived in nearby Pound Ridge, N.Y., for 15 years prior. He spent summers in Chilmark for more than 40 years.
Leonard (“Len”) was a telecommunications pioneer and philanthropist. His life was defined by a commitment to expanding opportunity and improving the lives of others. Born in Brooklyn in 1928 to Russian immigrant parents, Len grew up sharing a single room behind his family’s store with his parents and brother. Determined to pursue education, he earned a B.A. from Brooklyn College and a M.A. and Ph.D. in economic geography from Columbia University. He taught at Hunter College, Columbia Business School, and Brooklyn College.
In the 1950s, a fellowship to study the political geography of Southern Rhodesia (now part of Zimbabwe) took Len, his wife Claire, and their young son on a 6,000-mile journey through Africa. He described the experience as one of the greatest of his life.
Len later moved into business, first as part of a partnership producing Broadway shows, and then as a consultant with Touche Ross & Co. He joined TelePrompTer Corp., working on acquisitions and serving as assistant to its president, and its liaison with the Howard Hughes Corp.
In 1973, Len and Claire co-founded Century Communications Corp. Starting with a modest line of credit, the company grew into the fifth largest cable television operator in the U.S. before its sale in 1999. Len also founded and directed Centennial Cellular, and served as chairman and CEO of Citizens Communications (now Frontier Communications) from 1989 to 2004. He later became CEO of New Century Holdings. Len sold his businesses in 1999 to spend more time with Claire following her diagnosis with ALS, and to devote more time to their newfound ability to practice philanthropy in a more significant way.
The two shared a deeply felt belief: The wealth they amassed wasn’t theirs to keep, but rather to be paid forward in service of others. That conviction shaped the Tow Foundation from its inception in 1988. Philanthropy became Len and Claire’s life’s work, proudest role, and a shared path forward for their entire extended family. Their shared values of humility, fairness, curiosity, kindness, and a deep belief in education animated all that they built together. Those principles still guide the foundation today.
Leonard noted, “Neither Claire nor I grew up in a situation where philanthropy on any scale was a possibility, and that remained true really until we were in our 50s. We didn’t know what plenty was, but we did understand the other side — we knew the stresses and strains of poverty.”
Len and Claire always gave back through donations to charitable organizations, even early in their lives together, when they could only afford to give a few dollars here and there. They also used their early good fortune to help their closest friends pay for college tuition and medical bills, and to pay down their debts.
As their ability to give back grew, Len and Claire established the Tow Foundation, channeling their wealth to address what Len called “opportunities to alleviate pain, increase joy, and expand human potential.” In its earliest years, the foundation focused on medicine, higher education, and the cultural arts. Under their leadership, and later that of their daughter, Emily Tow, the foundation evolved to support criminal legal reform, journalism, and civic engagement, in addition to its existing priorities. Since then, the Tow Foundation has grown to be governed by three generations of the Tow family, granting hundreds of millions of dollars to institutions and organizations in New York, Connecticut, and across the U.S.
Throughout his career, Len served on many nonprofit and professional boards, including Lincoln Center Theater, Educational Broadcasting Corporation (WNET), the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Cablevision Systems, AMC Networks, Brooklyn College Foundation, and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
Len remained deeply involved in the foundation’s work until his death, with a particular interest in cutting-edge medical research and care, education and the arts for incarcerated people, and mentorship for students at Brooklyn College. He hoped to offer others the opportunity to fulfill their dreams, as he and Claire had done. Not one for taking the limelight, Len said about their philanthropy, “We do our thing quietly. It makes me feel good. I hope that’s how people remember me. For two kids from Brooklyn with no prospects, I think we did OK.”
In 2019, Len was awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in recognition of his lifetime of generosity, vision, and service.
He is survived by his three children: Frank Tow (Ronnie Klein), Andrew Tow (Kathleen Tow), and Emily Tow; his eight grandchildren, Cameron Tow (Eva Johnson), Molly Tow (Matt Delman), Olivia Tow Akers (Tommy Akers), Celia Tow, Grace Tow, James Jackson, Benjamin Jackson, and Hope Tow Jackson; and by one great-grandchild, Alice Johnson Tow.
In lieu of flowers or gifts, and in the spirit of Len’s philanthropy, please make a gift in his honor to a nonprofit organization that is close to your heart. Plans for a celebration of Len’s life will be shared at a future date.
For online condolences, visit hoytfuneralhome.com.