Sunday, April 12, 2009
Mark Desautels, 56, a vice president at CTIA -- the Wireless Association, a telecommunications trade group, died of a
heart attack March 30 at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas while attending a trade show. He lived in
Silver Spring.
. Desautels, whose full name was Mark Gerard Desautels, was a Washington native and a graduate of St. John's
College High School. He graduated from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania and received a master's degree in
international policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1994.
He began his career as a journalist in the 1970s with the Wheaton News, Montgomery Sentinel and St. Mary's County
Beacon newspapers. He later worked as an economics reporter for business news weeklies and covered Capitol Hill for
the Thomson newspaper chain.
Mr. Desautels joined the Congressional Budget Office in 1983 as a press spokesman and liaison officer. He later
became director of the CBO's Office of Intergovernmental Relations.
In 1998, he became president and chief executive of Wireless Data Forum, a trade association. When it merged with
CTIA in 2001, he became vice president of wireless Internet development. He oversaw marketing activities, developed
educational programming and managed industry trade shows.
Mr. Desautels coached his daughters' basketball teams with the Catholic Youth Organization and Montgomery County
Recreation Department. He volunteered with the Glenwood Tigers Swim Team and with the girls' basketball and softball
teams at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville.
He also volunteered at soup kitchens in Silver Spring and Washington and enjoyed playing golf.
Survivors include his wife of 24 years, Kathleen "Casey" Watkins of Silver Spring; three daughters, Alexandra Desautels
of Point Richmond, Calif., Meredith Desautels of San Francisco and Theresa Desautels of Silver Spring; two sisters,
Suzanne Desautels of Montreal and Claire Desautels of Berlin, Md.; and a brother, John Desautels of Damascus.
-- Matt Schudel