• by Ray Schultz , October 28, 2021

The direct marketing world was saddened Wednesday by the news that Kate Kestnbaum, a partner in the consulting firm Kestnbaum & Co. and widow of database pioneer Bob Kestnbaum, died at age 87.The Kestnbaums founded database consultancy Kestnbaum & Co in 1967, the same year that Lester Wunderman coined the name “direct marketing.” 

Kestnbaum & Co. was credited with “developing new metrics including customer lifetime value, and applying financial modeling and econometrics to marketing strategies” that later helped fuel online selling, according to a history of database marketing on the AssignmentPoint site.  

In addition, the company was “the training ground for many of database marketing's leading thinkers, including Robert Blattberg, Rick Courtheaux and Robert Shaw,” the account says.

Bob Kestnbaum died in 2001. 

Kate Kestnbaum is survived by her children Ellyn (John) Daniels and Meyer Kestnbaum, and several grandchildren.