Roger Ailes, who helped start Fox News and led it to become a ratings juggernaut before he resigned last summer amid multiple sexual harassment allegations (see 1607210025), died at age 77. Chairman Rupert Murdoch of 21st Century Fox, who took over Fox News Channel after Ailes left, confirmed the death. Earlier Thursday, Fox News reported Ailes died that morning. Ailes is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and son, Zachary. Other details weren't available.
Roy Stewart, 78, a longtime broadcast regulator, died Monday at Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax, Virginia, according to an announcement, his family and officials at the Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home. After military service, the lawyer joined the FCC in 1965, where he worked in roles including bureau chief until retiring in Dec. 31, 2009, as the No. 2 Media Bureau official (see 0912240140). For decades, he was a go-between for the FCC and broadcasters, answering industry questions and speaking at trade shows and after retirement attending some events, said broadcast lawyers. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a granddaughter. Friends may call at the funeral home at 9902 Braddock Rd. in Fairfax on Monday noon- 2 p.m., with interment immediately afterward at Fairfax Memorial Park.
Roy Russo, 80, a longtime broadcast and communications lawyer on issues before the FCC, died Feb. 25 in Arlington, Virginia, after a short stay in hospice care, according to his former law firm, Cohn and Marks. Russo worked there for 48 years through 2014. Before that, he worked at the FCC in what was then the Office of Opinions and Review. He's survived by a daughter, four grandchildren and a great-grandchild; his wife and son predeceased Russo. The family hadn't released funeral arrangements.
Wayne Schelle, who ran one of the first experimental trials of cellular in the U.S. and is considered a wireless pioneer, is to be remembered Friday with visitation at the Ruck Towson Funeral Home and a memorial service Saturday at the Church of the Good Shepherd, both in Towson, Maryland. In 1980, Schelle, who died Tuesday, got an experimental license from the FCC for the launch of cellular service in the Baltimore/Washington market, said Jonathan Blake, Schelle’s longtime friend, now retired from Covington & Burling. Four years later, the network was one of only two experimental cellular systems in the nation.
Clyde Holloway, 72, Louisiana Public Service Commission chairman, died Sunday at home in Forest Hill. Holloway was on the PSC since 2009 and announced his planned retirement this year. He was Louisiana state director-rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture 2006-09 and a Republican U.S. congressman 1987-93. Holloway is survived by his wife, four children, nine grandchildren and six siblings. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Mary Albert, 65, died unexpectedly this week at home in Washington, said officials at the Electronic Transactions Association, where she was director-regulatory affairs. Before joining ETA last year, Albert worked for a decade as assistant general counsel at Incompas. She also worked at law firms, was a staff attorney at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and was in-house telecom counsel, ETA said Wednesday. Albert is survived by a brother; other information on survivors and arrangements wasn't available.
Alan Pearce, 80, onetime FCC chief economist who also worked for the House Communications Subcommittee and the White House's Office of Telecommunications, died in Lexington, Va., July 10. Cause of death wasn't released. Born in Manchester, England, Pearce earned a doctorate in business from Indiana University, moving to Washington in 1970. After his government service he founded the consultancy Information Age Economics. Pearce is survived by his wife, three children and five grandchildren.
Blake Krikorian, 48, co-founder of Sling Media, died Wednesday during a surfing incident near San Francisco. Krikorian, a frequent traveler, got the inspiration for the Slingbox device because he was a rabid San Francisco Giants fan and wanted a way to watch the team's games on TV when he was far away from home, he told an interviewer. Sling Media, in a Thursday blog post, hailed Krikorian as “a true visionary who forever changed the content landscape when he envisioned the evolution of TV Anywhere capability over a decade ago with the founding of Slingbox.” In a Thursday statement, CTA President Gary Shapiro praised Krikorian, a former member of the association’s board of industry leaders, as “an extraordinary entrepreneur and imaginative mind, who envisioned place-shifting content via the Slingbox.” Krikorian’s “innovative work lives on with the millions of people who enjoy the video content they purchased, no matter where they are in the world,” Shapiro said.
Roy Carlson, TDS founder and chairman, died Monday at 100, the company said Wednesday. After Carlson started the company in 1969, he helped expand it from a small rural telco in Wisconsin to a national provider with 2015 revenue of $5 billion. He also helped start U.S. Cellular, which is part of TDS. Carlson is survived by a wife, four children, a sister and 10 grandchildren.
Former Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., a member of the Senate Commerce Committee who focused on communications issues, died Thursday at his home in Billings at age 81. Burns was elected to the Senate in 1988 and twice re-elected before losing a close election to Democrat Jon Tester in 2006. Burns was a livestock auctioneer, traveling salesman and agriculture news broadcaster before turning to politics. NAB CEO Gordon Smith, who served with Burns in the Senate, noted his death. “Conrad's deep appreciation for local broadcasting -- based on his many years of service as a farm broadcaster in Montana -- was evident on the Senate Commerce Committee,” Smith said. The NG911 Institute said in a statement that Burns was a founding co-chair of the Congressional E911 Caucus. “Not only was he successful in his pursuit of improving the 911 system, but he did it in a bipartisan manner,” the group said. Burns is survived by wife and two children. Funeral arrangements are pending.