Robert Rosencrans was a cable television pioneer best known for helping to create the public affairs network C-SPAN. He also served as the first board chairman of the organization in its infancy, and went on to work for the network for nearly four decades. He served as C-SPAN's chairman emeritus until his passing.

Rosencrans and his business partner Ken Gunter helped propel the vision of Brian Lamb, who saw C-Span as a publicly accessible way to educate and inform. Rosencrans helped raise seed money for the network, which transmitted its first live broadcast of the U.S. House of Representatives on March 19, 1979. He described the role of the network as giving Americans access to the activities in the nation's capital.

The network today is comprised of several television and radio channels as well as a website, all of which provide comprehensive coverage of Congress, campaigns and public affairs programming, including lectures, book reviews and interviews.

Rosencrans died August 3, 2016, in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was 89.