Walt Wurfel, 81, NAB senior vice president-communications 1986-1997, died Thursday at a Falls Church, Virginia, assisted living facility. Wurfel’s long broadcast career included a stint as deputy press secretary in the Carter administration and as Gannett vice president-communications. Survivors include his wife Sara Fitzgerald, two sons and three grandchildren. Memorial service is at 1 p.m. Dec. 22 at Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ, 5010 Little Falls Rd., Arlington. Condolences may be emailed to his wife, sarafitz@aol.com.

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.

Joe Clayton, 69, for many years the industry face and voice of the RCA brand and later CEO at Frontier Communications, Sirius Satellite Radio and Dish Network, died Saturday from complications of pancreatic cancer. CTA, which Clayton chaired during the mid-1990s, hailed him Sunday as a direct broadcast satellite “pioneer” for his role in launching RCA Digital Satellite Service receivers with DirecTV in 1994. Survivors include his wife, five children and four grandchildren. A calling is scheduled for 3-8 p.m. Thursday at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Clayton’s alma mater. A viewing is planned for 9 a.m. Friday at Barlowe Funeral Home in Bardstown, Kentucky, and an 11 a.m. funeral mass will be at the Basilica of Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown.

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.

Joseph Flaherty, 87, former CBS senior vice president-technology and widely heralded as the “father of HDTV,” died Tuesday in Greenport, New York. Flaherty organized the first HDTV demonstrations for the Hollywood production community at the February 1981 SMPTE technical conference, and his efforts led to his appointment as planning committee chairman of the FCC’s Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service. Flaherty’s work made the U.S. “the first country in the world to convert to a digital HDTV system,” blogged Robert Seidel, CBS vice president-engineering and advanced technology, Wednesday. “Television viewers around the globe are still benefiting from the technology innovations of Joe Flaherty,” said Seidel. Broadcasters “have lost a friend and broadcast innovators have lost a true legend” with Flaherty’s passing, said NAB President Gordon Smith. “As broadcasters prepare to bring American consumers the wonders of Next Generation Television, we honor the life, legacy and extraordinary accomplishments of Joe Flaherty.” People around the world today “enjoy a richer TV viewing experience than ever, in no small part because of Joe's focus on excellence,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro of Flaherty, a 2009 Consumer Technology Hall of Fame inductee. Flaherty's survivors include his wife and five children. A funeral Mass is planned for 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Agnes Church in Greenport, New York, said Seidel.

Gerry Lenfest, cable television and newspaper executive, died Sunday. He was 88. The cause of death was complications from chronic illness, a family spokesperson told The Washington Post. Lenfest formed Lenfest Communications after buying two cable systems from Triangle Publications, where he had worked as a lawyer. He later sold what had become Suburban Cable to Comcast. Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite, donated their ownership of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and philly.com to The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. In addition to his wife, survivors include three children and four grandchildren.

Bill Colwell, 48, assistant general counsel of Northrop Grumman, died Sunday of cancer. The expert in government contracts, who used to work for Boeing and Wiley Rein, had been on the Federal Circuit Bar Association board. He was married to Robin Colwell, who worked for FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly before going to the House Communications Subcommittee as a key staffer. "Bill Colwell was a wonderful person, a devoted father, and the best partner imaginable for my former chief of staff, Robin," O'Rielly said Monday. Colwell's also survived by twin daughters, a brother, and his mother and grandmother. Funeral Mass is Friday at 11 a.m. at St. John the Beloved in McLean, Virginia, followed by a reception at the Columbus Club of Arlington.

Angelo Falcon, 66, board member of National Hispanic Media Coalition, died Thursday. He was also on the boards of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention and was a founding member of the Defend the Honor campaign, a national coalition of Latino organizations and activists that pressured PBS and Ken Burns to include the Latino experience in their World War II documentary series, The War, in 2007. No information on survivors was immediately available.

Byron St. Clair, 93 and a well-known low-power broadcast advocate and past National Translator Association president, died Sunday in Denver of brain cancer. He's credited with helping bring low-power TV and FM to rural areas with little terrestrial service in the West to extend broadcasters' reach, and he headed NTA for 19 years, where at death he was president emeritus. He belonged to various broadcast committees and other groups. St. Clair is survived by wife, daughter, brother and two grandsons. A memorial gathering is being planned for June. Contributions can be made to the St. Clair Memorial Scholarship Fund: afcce.org/scholarships.