Former Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Chairman Jack Valenti is dead following complications of a stroke suffered in March. The voice of the MPAA for nearly 40 years, Valenti's public career began during the Johnson administration, when he served as an advisor and confidant to the late President.

Valenti is best known for devising Hollywood's G-to-X ratings system in a deliberate effort to thwart censorship. All the sex and lavish violence that theatre-goers enjoy today were vouchsafed by Valenti's "educated consumer" approach to movie content. A tireless advocate and lobbyist, Valenti remained throughout his career an energetic defender of the movie industry's interests. Most recently he's been known for an alarmist approach to digital piracy, which he predicted would bring Hollywood to its knees unless such Draconian measures as the DMCA were put in place.

He served his country honourably during World War II as an Army B-25 bomber pilot, and flew more than 50 missions in Europe.

He is survived by his widow Mary, son John, and daughters Courtenay and Alexandra. ®