Cecil died in San Diego, an ocean away from Hawaii, which he once represented in Congress and where he had owned both radio and TV stations. He began in radio in the 1950s, says the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, managing stations in the Western U.S. (Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Arizona) before buying KGMB radio and TV in Hawaii in 1965. KGMB-AM became KSSK (590) and he bought and sold several FMs, including what is now KSSK-FM (92.3). He continued to add stations on the mainland and became known as an operator willing to stake his CHR stations to huge cash prizes – which got the desired attention from audiences. Programmer John Rook worked for him at KIMN, Denver in the 1950s and then later consulted for him, and on his website Rook says Heftel was “Certainly one of the most unforgettable early top forty giants…a showman with an appreciation of on-air talent that he financially rewarded handsomely.” Heftel, known as “Cec”, later spotted the opportunities in Spanish language broadcasting. In 1997, he merged his Heftel Broadcasting with Tichenor Media System to create Hispanic Broadcasting – the basis of the Hispanic media giant known as Univision. Heftel represented Hawaii in Congress from 1976 until 1986, when he resigned to run for governor. He lost the Democratic primary, due to what he believed as a smear campaign. At age 79, he ran for and won a seat of the Hawaii state Board of Education. The press release from his family says he had been “in failing health for a while, and died of natural causes.” A Pittsburgh-Board poster on Radio-Info.com remembers “13Q” and says Heftel deserves more recognition as an owner/operator. That’s here.