Former FCC Chairman Charles Ferris, 90, died Feb. 16 at his Chevy Chase, Maryland, home, following a brief illness. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter, Ferris led the FCC from 1977 to 1981. Under his leadership, the agency eased restrictions on telephone equipment, broadcasting, cable and satellite. Those changes are credited with bringing more minorities and women into broadcast station ownership. "Chairman Ferris helped reshape the communications marketplace by allowing AT&T to use computers in its networks, removing rate regulation on telephone equipment, and supporting the growth of cable television," Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said. "Consumers still benefit from his foresight today." Prior to the FCC, Ferris worked on Capitol Hill, including as chief counsel to Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, D-Mont., and to House Speaker Tip O’Neill, D-Mass. He also served as general counsel and staff director of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. After leaving the FCC, he became a partner at Mintz, heading the Washington, D.C., office and served on Cablevision’s board. He retired in 2013. Survivors include his daughters, Caroline and Sabrina. Donations may be made to the World Ocean School or the Women's Coalition of St. Croix.

Citadel Communications founder and CEO Philip Lombardo, 88, died “following a brief illness,” the Broadcasters Foundation of America said. Lombardo was the foundation’s chairman emeritus. He was its chairman for 15 years. Lombardo was also a past NAB joint board chairman. “While his impact on the broadcasting industry was vast and deep, Phil’s enduring legacy will be the vision and passion with which he led the Broadcasters Foundation of America. His contributions to its mission -- helping fellow broadcasters in need -- had no bounds. That commitment is sure to live on forever,” said Ray Cole, retired Citadel president and chief operating officer. Lombardo began to wind down Citadel's operations with last year's sale to Nexstar Media of its only remaining station, WSSN-LD Sarasota, Florida. Donations in his memory may be made to the Philip J. Lombardo Memorial Fund, which the Broadcasters Foundation said it will establish. Names of immediate survivors were not available.

Eric Chamberlin of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, an industry analyst in the FCC Wireless Broadband Division for nearly nine years, died Dec. 2 of colon cancer. He was 38. Chamberlin worked on RF licensing. Survivors include his wife, Justina; two daughters, Avary and Mia; and his parents, Kenneth and Sharon.

Former Rep. Tom Bliley, R-Va., 91, who as House Commerce Committee chairman was credited with being instrumental in the creation of the 1996 Telecom Act, died Thursday. Before his election to Congress in 1980, Bliley was mayor of Richmond from 1970 to 1977. Bliley retired from politics in 2001, eventually joining Steptoe & Johnson as a senior adviser for government affairs. “Many of his legislative accomplishments still stand today, including in the telecommunications, food safety, and technology sectors,” Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said in a statement, pointing to the Telecom Act and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which she said “served to knock down competitive barriers and reduce costs to Americans and established data privacy protections for them at the same time.” Survivors include his wife, Mary, and his daughter, Mary Vaughn Bliley Utter. Visitation will be held Monday at Bliley's-Central, 3801 Augusta Ave., Richmond, with a funeral Mass Tuesday at Saint Bridget Catholic Church, 6006 Three Chopt Road, Richmond.

Maura McGowan of Ellicott City, Maryland, who retired in December after 36 years as an FCC analyst, died Oct. 26. She was 59. The cause of death wasn’t disclosed, but her family said it followed a long illness. Survivors include her husband, Tim Maguire; two children, Kate and Brendan; and her father, Francis. Donations in her memory may be made to High Hopes for Haiti.

Craig Bomberger, 55, FCC acting Auctions Division chief, died Oct. 8 of undisclosed causes. Bomberger worked at the agency for 24 years. He previously worked in the Wireless Bureau and in the Office of Economics and Analytics, according to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Survivors include his wife, Melissa, and daughters, Ella and Zoe. Donations in his memory may be made to the Maui Strong Fund or The Nature Conservancy.

William Dilday, the first black manager of a network-affiliated TV station in the U.S., died July 27. Dilday, 85, was a founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists. He died due to complications from a fall, according to The New York Times. Dilday became manager of the NBC-affiliated WLBT Jackson, Mississippi, after petitions to the FCC and a suit by United Church of Christ and a group of Black citizens against the station for racial discrimination. He later became station manager of CBS affiliate WJTV Jackson, corporate vice president of News-Press and Gazette company and CEO of Kerimax Communications. As part of a group of investors, he bought a TV station in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Media mogul Herbert Siegel of New York, a , died Aug. 5. He was 95. His wife, Jeanne, told The New York Times the cause was heart failure. Among Siegel’s many business ventures was ownership of boat builder Chris-Craft Industries, which he turned into a multiple TV station owner and eventually sold to News Corp. He also for a time had ownership stakes in Warner, Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century-Fox Film.

Stuart Epperson, who with his brother-in-law, Edward Atsinger, founded Salem Communications, now known as Salem Media Group, in 1986, died this week. He was 86. Salem didn’t provide a cause of death. A former member of the National Religious Broadcasters Association board, Epperson was a member and past president of the conservative Council for National Policy. In the 1980s, he twice ran unsuccessfully as the Republican nominee for North Carolina’s 5th congressional district. Survivors include his wife, Nancy, three daughters and a son.

Alaska Communications President-CEO Bill Bishop died Tuesday at his Anchorage home. Cause of death wasn’t provided, but the company said he had taken leave-of-absence to focus on his health. Bishop joined Alaska Communications in August 2004 and filled several roles, including senior vice president-customer and revenue management and chief operations officer before becoming CEO in 2019. Before joining Alaska Communications, he worked for AT&T, McCaw Communications and a federal government logistics contracting company. Bishop was on the USTelecom board and a former chairman of Alaska Business Week, an entrepreneurship training program for high school students. Survivors include his wife, Deena, and three children.