H.F. Lenfest, a businessman turned philanthropist who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to arts, education and journalism institutions in Philadelphia, died at the age of 88.Lenfest, known as Gerry, was taken from his home in Rittenhouse Square and pronounced dead at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Lenfest died of complications of chronic illness.

Lenfest joined Triangle Publications, a media group, in 1965 after working at a New York law firm, The Associated Press reported. When the company sold its cable television assets.  Lenfest purchased them with the help of two investors, and expanded the assets into the 11th largest cable company in the country.

He and his wife, Marguerite, made $1.2 billion after selling the company, Suburban Cable, to Comcast in 2000. They reportedly donated an estimated $1.1 billionIn 2016, Lenfest announced that he had donated the three news outlets to a new nonprofit that he created, the Institute for Journalism in New Media, which later was renamed the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.

Mr. Lenfest said the move was intended to extend the publications’ longevity in a new digital age.“My goal is to ensure that the journalism traditionally provided by the printed newspapers is given a new life and prolonged, while new media formats for its distribution are being developed,” Mr. Lenfest said. “Of all of the ventures I have been involved with in my life, nothing is more important than preserving the journalism that has been delivered by these storied news organizations.”He stepped down as chairman of the institute in 2017, and Mr. Boardman took his place.

By investing in the future of those news outlets in Philadelphia,  Lenfest helped create a way for local journalism to exist and possibly be replicated in other parts of the country, Mr. Boardman said.

Harold FitzGerald Lenfest was born on May 29, 1930, in Jacksonville, Fla., the son of Harold C. Lenfest and Herrena FitzGerald Lenfest.  Lenfest was known as Gerry because he wanted a common man’s name. Lenfest graduated from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., with a degree in economics in 1953, served in the United States Navy, attained the rank of captain, and graduated from Columbia Law School.