Notable Deaths Elsewhere

FRANK BATTEN SR., 82

News executive created Weather Channel

Frank Batten Sr., who built a communications empire that spanned newspapers and cable television and created The Weather Channel, died Thursday in Norfolk, Va., after a prolonged illness.

Mr. Batten was the retired chairman of privately held Landmark Communications and a former chairman of the board of the Associated Press.

A visionary executive who earned a reputation for spotting media trends, Mr. Batten was at the forefront of development of cable television in the 1960s.

He developed The Weather Channel in the 1980s while other media leaders scoffed at the idea that people would watch programming devoted solely to weather. In 2008, Landmark sold the channel to NBC Universal and two private equity firms for $3.5 billion.

The company had put its other businesses up for sale but suspended those plans amid the faltering economic conditions.

With a fortune estimated at $2.3 billion, Mr. Batten ranked 190th on Forbes magazine's 2008 list of the 400 richest Americans.

"I think that most accomplishments in organizations are officially the result of teamwork rather than a brilliant performance by one person," Mr. Batten said in a 2005 Associated Press interview.

"Accomplishing teamwork is another matter," he added. "That's not easy, I think. And again it gets down to creating an environment in which people work successfully in teams, and are recognized for it."

He served as AP board chairman from 1982 to 1987.

"Frank was both an inspirational and innovative leader, who was a willing mentor to many," said AP President and CEO Tom Curley. "He played a pivotal role in helping AP transition to a modern organization for a more competitive, global era of newsgathering."

Retired AP president and chief executive officer Louis D. Boccardi said Mr. Batten "came into AP's life at a critical time and started us on the road to modernize our systems, our management, and indeed our thinking while keeping true to our journalistic heritage."

Mr. Batten's uncle, Samuel L. Slover, had sowed the seeds of Norfolk-based Landmark in the early 1900s by acquiring a succession of local newspapers.

Mr. Slover helped raise him after Mr. Batten's father died when he was 1. Mr. Batten began his career as a reporter and advertising salesman for the Norfolk newspapers.