Obituary: David Cohen, Former Common Cause Leader

David Cohen, an early leader of government watchdog group Common Cause and a four-decade advocate for greater transparency and accountability in conducting the public’s business, died of a heart attack Sunday at age 79, reports The Washington Post.

Mr. Cohen joined Common Cause in 1971, a year after it was founded as a self-described “people’s lobby” dedicated to political and government openness, and he served as its president from 1975 to 1981. He remained active in the field for decades afterward, co-founding the Advocacy Institute, a training center for public-interest lobbyists, and heading the Professionals’ Coalition for Nuclear Arms Control, an umbrella group for pro-disarmament organizations, among other affiliations.