Former FCC Staffer Terry Lynn Matsumoto Killed in Washington, D.C.

The Washington Post was reportingTuesday that Terry Lynn Matsumoto, 82, and her husband Masao Matsumoto, 81, were found shot to death in their Falls Church home in what was being described as a murder/suicide. 

According to a veteran D.C. communications executive, Terry Matsumoto was administrative assistant to Peter Pitsch, chief of staff to FCC chairman Dennis Patrick in the late 1980s, a chairman arguably most notable for his repeal of the Fairness Doctrine. 

A 1986 copy of the Federal Yellow Book, a directory of federal personnel, does list Terry Matsumoto as a staff assistant to Pitsch when the latter was in the FCC's Office of Plans and Policy. 

"This is very sad news," said Pitsch, currently executive director of federal relations and associate general counsel for Intel. "Terry was a dear friend and colleague. She will be in my prayers."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.