Carter Burden; Radio Executive, Former N.Y. City Councilman

Carter Burden, 54, publisher and former New York city councilman who once owned the Village Voice. Burden also founded and expanded Commodore Media, which owns and operates 20 radio stations in New York, Connecticut, West Virginia, Florida and Pennsylvania. He was known as a major benefactor of the New York Public Library, the Morgan Library and the New York City Ballet. Burden served on the City Council from 1969 to 1978, when he lost to Bella Abzug. He was principal owner of the colorful Village Voice from 1969 to 1970, when he merged it with New York Magazine Co. and sold his controlling interest to Rupert Murdoch. Born in Los Angeles, Burden was educated at Harvard and Columbia universities. He and his first wife, heiress Amanda Mortimer, were known in their youth as popular socialites and one of New York’s leading “fun couples.” But the demeanor later changed, and Burden became a concerned politician and philanthropist. On Tuesday in New York City of a heart ailment.