In 1961, he used his shares of Procter & Gamble as collateral to acquire two radio stations in North Carolina and established Park Broadcasting, Inc.
He left Procter & Gamble the following year and began rapidly purchasing other radio and TV stations.
[2] "They are reasonably invulnerable to competition, not overburdened with depreciable assets, high profile in their community, and while regulated by the government, the franchise for the assigned frequency on the airwaves is protected by Uncle Sam."
After his death, Park Communications was bought for $710 million by a pair of investors using a loan from the Retirement Systems of Alabama.
[5] Park lived in the Ithaca, New York area for the remainder of his life, having purchased a stone mansion on seven acres in Cayuga Heights in the mid-1950s.
Park was actively involved with Ithaca College, joining its board of trustees in 1973 and serving as chairman from 1981 to 1992.
At Cornell University, he sat on the Advisory Council of the Johnson Graduate School of Management and endowed the Lewis H. Durland Memorial Lecture Series, which brings a prominent business leader to campus every year.
The foundation quickly ran into trouble, with Park's two children (one liberal, one conservative) disagreeing about which causes to support.
In 2010, with Dorothy Park suffering from advanced Alzheimer's, her two children sued each other after disagreeing over whose foundation should get the bulk of her estimated $220-million estate.
[11]) The Park Foundation supports a myriad of causes including higher education, media and public awareness, and environmental protection.
In addition, the Dorothy and Roy Park Alumni Center at North Carolina State was named after the couple.