Rene Anselmo

Built a Spanish language television network in the United States and then at age 61 bet his fortune on creating the world's first privately owned global satellite network. Reynold Vincent Anselmo was the son of a postmaster in Bedford, Mass. Mr. Anselmo was a colorful man, at times charming and gracious and at others decidedly blunt. He drove himself in his black Bentley from his mansion in Greenwich, modeled after the palace at Versailles, to his job as chairman of PanAmSat. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1951, where he dabbled in amateur theater, and then went on vacation to Mexico, where he landed work producing Mexican television shows. In 1963, he returned to the United States with his family and started what became the Spanish International Network, known as SIN. The network combined more than 400 broadcast, satellite and cable outlets when it was sold in 1987 to Hallmark Cards Inc. Mr. Anselmo, who owned 25 percent of SIN, is said to have pocketed $80 million. Instead of retiring, he created PanAmSat and announced that he would break the monopoly on satellite transmission of video images held by Intselsat, which is owned by 120 governments, including the United States. Today, his company has three satellites and beams signals for HBO, ESPN and others around the world. Mr. Anselmo is survived by Mary, his wife of more than 40 years; two sons, Reverge, who lives in New Mexico, and Rayce, of Los Angeles; a daughter, Pier, of Greenwich, and five grandchildren.