Richard Neustadt; Founded Satellite, Wireless Communications Firms

Richard M. Neustadt, a pioneer in the field of wireless telecommunications who co-founded the Private Satellite Network to provide closed-circuit television for companies, has died. He was 47.

Neustadt, who lived in Santa Monica, died Sunday in a Yuba River rafting accident near Downieville, Calif.

In addition to Private Satellite Network, he started the Los Angeles-based companies DCT Communications, a broad-band wireless communications firm, and El Dorado Communications, a Spanish-language radio broadcaster. His fourth pioneering firm was US Telecom in Houston, a provider of communications for convention centers.

The author of “The Birth of Electronic Publishing,” published in 1982, Neustadt was a strategic alliance adviser for General Magic and Sky Radio.

Neustadt specialized in telecommunications deregulation as associate director of the White House domestic policy staff in the Administration of President Jimmy Carter. An attorney, he helped found and served as general counsel and treasurer of the Benton Foundation, which concentrates on communications policy issues.

He was a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and served in the Navy.

Neustadt is survived by his wife, Roxane I. Googin; his father, retired Harvard professor Richard E. Neustadt, and stepmother, Shirley Williams, who is a member of the House of Lords in Great Britain; a sister, Beth Neustadt, and a niece, both of London.

Memorial services will be scheduled in Washington and in Los Angeles.