Common Cause joins his friends and admirers across the country today in mourning the passing of Charles Benton, founder and chairman of the Benton Foundation and a tireless advocate for public policies geared to making the power of 21^st century digital communications available to every American.

“Charles and the Benton Foundation have done extraordinary work on behalf of the public interest in forward-looking communications policy for more than three decades,” said Common Cause President Miles Rapoport. “We have been honored to have him as a friend and ally of Common Cause.”

Mr. Benton, 84, died Wednesday at his home in Evanston, IL, the Foundation announced.

“I am heartbroken at this loss of a friend and dauntless public interest champion,” said Michael Copps, a former member of the Federal Communications Commission now serving as special adviser to Common Cause’s Media and Democracy Reform Initiative. “He did America proud.”