Richard E. Butler
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Richard E. Butler (1926 – 25 June 2012) was an Australian public servant who was the secretary-general of the
International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
from 1983 to 1989. He was also its deputy secretary-general from 1974 to 1982, and in an ''ad interim'' tenure from 1968 to 1973.


Early life

Butler was born in Black Rock,
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia in 1926.


Career

He enlisted in the
Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...
, aged 18, and served during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. After the war, he returned to work for the
Postmaster-General's Department The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was a department of the Australian federal government, established at Federation in 1901, whose responsibilities included the provision of postal and telegraphic services throughout Australia. It was ...
, where he had been employed before as a delivery boy. He progressed to become assistant deputy director-general, where he was involved in planning domestic and international telecommunications, and was a policy adviser for the development of Australian broadcasting and television services. He also helped to establish INTELSAT and assisted in negotiating international agreements on submarine cables.


International Telecommunication Union

Butler participated in major ITU conferences as deputy leader of Australian delegations. In 1968, he was appointed by the ITU Administrative Council to be deputy secretary-general ''ad interim'', and was elected to the post by the
Plenipotentiary Conference The expression Plenipotentiary Conference (of conference of plenipotentiaries) is used to refer to some diplomatic conference integrated by diplomats invested with the full power of independent action on behalf of their country's government. In the ...
in Malaga-Torremolinos in 1973. The 1982 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...
elected Butler as its secretary-general. The conference also set up an Independent International Commission for World-Wide Telecommunications Development, chaired by Sir Donald Maitland, which in 1985 produced a highly influential report, ''The Missing Link'', that found that two-third's of the world's population had no access to telephone services and set a goal for bringing all of humankind within easy reach of telecommunications and its benefits by the early part of the 21st century. The Plenipotentiary Conference in Nice in 1989 followed this up by creating within ITU a Telecommunication Development Bureau. Butler's tenure also saw the signing of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) in 1988, which facilitated connectivity of, and innovation in, international telecommunication services. He retired from the ITU in 1989 but remained involved in its activities. On his retirement, John J O'Neill, a US representative on the ITU's Administrative Council wrote, "the international telecommunications community must insist on (Butler's) continued participation as an elder statesman. His talents are too great, his understanding of the issues too profound, his negotiating and conciliatory skills too impressive to remain unused." Butler's successor as general secretary of the ITU was
Pekka Tarjanne Pekka Tarjanne (1937–2010) was a scientist and politician who served as the chairman of the Liberal Party and minister of transport in Finland. He also headed the International Telecommunication Union from 1989 and 1999. Early life and educati ...
. He was also on a number of boards, including chairman of Worldspace-Asia, a company related to
Worldspace 1worldspace, known for most of its existence simply as WorldSpace, is a defunct satellite radio network that in its heyday provided service to over 170,000 subscribers in eastern, southern and northern Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia w ...
, that was set up to deliver digital radio from satellite to developing nations and remote areas, and the board of Sky Station Australia, a company that planned to provide broadband communications from a network of tethered airships.


Death

Butler died in Melbourne in 2012 at the age of 86. In a statement of condolences to his friends and family, the Australian communications minister
Stephen Conroy Stephen Michael Conroy (born 18 January 1963) is an Australian former politician who was an Australian Labor Party member of the Senate from 1996 to 2016, representing the state of Victoria. He served as a minister in the Rudd and Gillard go ...
said, "Dick helped shape the telecommunications industry we know today. In the decades following his leadership of the ITU, he continued to make a substantial contribution. As recently as this year, Dick was an honoured member of Australia's delegation to the World Radiocommunication Conference... For over 30 years he has mentored many individuals both from Australia and around the world. He will be missed by all."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Richard E. 1926 births 2012 deaths 20th-century Australian people International Telecommunication Union people Public servants from Melbourne People from Black Rock, Victoria