Professor Dan Caspi, one of the founders of the Department of Communication Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, passed away at the age of 72.
Professor Caspi helped lay the foundation for communication studies in Israel and textbooks he had written served generations of students in communications around the country.
Caspi was also a champion for the integrity of the media and one of the prominent voices in the fight against media concentration, and for quality and independent public broadcasting.
Throughout his career, Professor Caspi integrated research with public activity, during which he published hundreds of articles in daily newspapers and online, including two regular columns in a local newspaper in Jerusalem and in the Israel Advertisers Association journal “Signals". Professor Caspi published a column in the "Seventh Eye" Journal and an opinion column on Ynet. He also wrote the blog "Dan in Communications" in "Haaretz" until his death.
Professor Caspi was born on 01/01/1945 in Romania. He immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of 14 and settled in Beer Sheva. He acquired his academic education in sociology and communications at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and received his doctorate in 1976. Beginning in the mid 80's Professor Caspi became a faculty member at the Open University, and helped lay the foundations for undergraduate communications studies in Israel. The textbooks he wrote were used until recent years for undergraduate teaching in all higher education institutions around the country.
