William J. Bresnan (1933 – November 27, 2009) was an American businessman who founded Bresnan Communications in 1984. He was also chair of the company until his death in 2009. William Bresnan was born in Madison Lake, Minnesota in 1933. He was the third of four children of Ann and Robert Leonard Bresnan. When Bresnan was five years old, his father died from tuberculosis leaving Ann to take care of the family working as a seamstress. William J. Bresnan died on November 27, 2009, at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut, from complications due to cancer at the age of 75.