Henry Geller, 96, widely known for his stints at the FCC and NTIA, died Tuesday at around midnight. He had bladder cancer and died at home hospice, according to his wife Judy. They have a son, daughter and a grandson.…
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Geller was the first NTIA director, and under then-Chairman Newt Minow was FCC general counsel. Even in retirement, Geller continued pushing for government and industry to be a force for good, recalled those who knew him. In that capacity, he helped represent Action for Children’s Television and gained passage of the 1990 Children’s Television Act, his wife recalled. "Henry was disappointed that his main goal never came to fruition," she emailed. "Instead of requiring commercial stations to act in the public interest, he wanted to excuse them and alternatively, allocate 1% of their advertising revenues to public TV for the funding of children’s programming." Before he resigned from all boards in 2006, he was a director of Neustar and of organizations including the now-defunct Media Access Project. Per his instructions, there's no funeral or other service planned.