Mark Victor Rosenker, 73, former National Transportation Safety Board chair, died of brain cancer Saturday in Alexandria, Virginia. A retired Air Force Reserve officer, Rosenker was director of the White House Military Office under President George W. Bush and was traveling with the president on Air Force One on Sept. 11, 2001. He was longtime vice president-public affairs at the Electronic Industries Alliance, the trade group that preceded CTA, and was a transportation safety consultant to CBS News. CTA President Gary Shapiro praised Rosenker as a “close friend and valued colleague.” Wife survives. Donations may be made to the Tunnels to Towers Foundation for Sept. 11 heroes or the TAPS organization to support military survivors. A memorial service will be streamed live Friday at 11 a.m. on the Facebook page of the National Funeral Home in Falls Church, Virginia. Burial with full military honors will follow at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery.
Sumner Redstone, 97, chairman emeritus of ViacomCBS and CEO of controlling shareholder National Amusements, died Tuesday at his Los Angeles home. He was executive chairman of Viacom’s board for nearly 30 years and was the content company’s CEO from 1996 until 2005, said ViacomCBS. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called Redstone, famous for the quote “content is king,” a “longtime legend.” Redstone was “a brilliant visionary, operator and dealmaker, who single-handedly transformed a family-owned drive-in theater company into a global media portfolio,” said ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish. Survivors include his two children.
Mark Hurd, 62, Oracle co-CEO, died Friday, according to founder Larry Ellison. He had taken medical leave in September. Survivors include his wife and two daughters. The company declined to disclose further details. "He understood broadband’s power to change lives," said USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter.
Giovanni Buttarelli, the European data protection supervisor, died Tuesday in Italy. He was "surrounded by his family," his office announced Wednesday, without providing other biographical details or responding to a query. Before European's Parliament and its Council named him in December 2014 to a five-year term, the Italian national had been an assistant European data protection supervisor and previously was Italian Data Protection Authority secretary-general. Buttarelli's funeral is Saturday in Italy.
John Paul Stevens, 99, retired Supreme Court justice who wrote the majority opinion in the landmark 5-4 Sony Betamax decision that established fair-use precedents for consumer video recording devices, died Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale of complications from a stroke he suffered Monday. Stevens authored the finding in 1984 that the Betamax VCR was capable of “commercially significant noninfringing uses,” and that “even the unauthorized home time-shifting” of broadcast TV programs was “legitimate” fair use. In the opinion he wrote, Stevens singled out the lower-court trial testimony of Fred Rogers, creator and star of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Rogers “testified that he had absolutely no objection to home taping for noncommercial use and expressed the opinion that it is a real service to families to be able to record children’s programs and to show them at appropriate times,” said the opinion. “RIP Justice Stevens,” tweeted CTA President Gary Shapiro Tuesday evening. “Your majority opinion in the 1984 Sony-Betamax case was the Magna Carta for innovation and spurred investment, exploration and creativity, leading the US to be a global leader in the internet and technology.” Stevens served nearly 35 years on the court before retiring in 2010. Two daughters and nine grandchildren survive.
Retired Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., 92, died Thursday from complications from prostate cancer. Known among colleagues as “the dean,” Dingell chaired the House Commerce Committee for a total of 18 years, and was ranking member for 12. He was among the lawmakers responsible for writing the 1996 Telecom Act. “Any ... telecommunications legislation that became law during his tenure at the helm of this Committee had his fingerprints on it,” said Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. America’s Public Television Televisions CEO Patrick Butler recalled a photo of the Earth that hung in Dingell’s office with “a caption, saying ‘Jurisdiction of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.’ This expansive view of the committee’s writ tested the boundaries of congressional power, but the chairman delighted in his role as a central figure in policy matters,” Butler said. When Dingell announced he would retire in 2015, former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell called him “a bipartisan watchdog regarding FCC process” (see 1402250056). “If you testified in front of @JohnDingell you were in for a series of yes or no questions. He wasn’t wasting time, he was getting things done,” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted Friday. Survivors include wife Debbie, who succeeded him in the House, three children, a brother, sister and three grandchildren. Dingell will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Visitation will be Monday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center at 15801 Michigan Ave., Dearborn; a funeral mass will be Tuesday, 11 a.m., at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 22430 Michigan Ave., Dearborn. A funeral service will be held in Washington with further details to come.
Patricia Wald, 90 and the first woman to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, died Saturday in Washington, D.C., of pancreatic cancer. Appointed to the D.C. Circuit in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter, Wald became its chief judge in 1986, serving until 1991. She was among the slate of initial members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Survivors include five children, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
James Billington, who retired as librarian of Congress in 2015, died Tuesday. He was 89. President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the Library of Congress in 1987. In bringing the LOC online, Billington initiated the National Digital Library Program. Other electronic services created under his watch included Congress.gov, eCo online copyright registration and National Jukebox, providing free streaming access to out-of-print music and spoken-word recordings. A few months before Billington announced his retirement, a GAO report criticized him and other LOC leaders for not modernizing critical LOC IT systems (see 1503310046). Before joining the LOC, Billington was a Russia scholar and taught at Princeton and Harvard before heading the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. Survivors include his wife, Marjorie, four children and 12 grandchildren.
Paul Allen, 65, co-founder of Microsoft, died Monday from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He owned Vulcan Spectrum, which was active in the 2008 wireless spectrum auction. Allen also was an early investor in AOL and invested in Charter Communications, RCN and DreamWorks SKG. He's survived by his sister, Jody.
Robert Pitofsky, FTC chairman 1995-2001, died Oct. 6. He was 88. Pitofsky directed the Consumer Protection Bureau 1970-73 and was commissioner 1978-81. He was dean of the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was dean emeritus, and retired from Arnold and Porter. When he was chairman, the FTC cleared AOL buying Time Warner. He moved the commission “toward an aggressive enforcement-based approach," said current Chairman Joe Simons. "He was a proponent of a consumer welfare standard grounded in sound economic principles.” Survivors include his wife, three children and seven grandchildren. Funeral services were Tuesday.