• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 28, 2022

Russell Zingale, a well-known agency media executive who most recently was President of USIM and a partner of MatrixPoint, died Saturday following complications related to a stroke. He was 62.

Zingale, who held senior positions at Carat, Media Storm, Aegis Media (now Dentsu, and Initiative, before joining USIM in 2010, was inducted as a MediaPost All Star in 2021.

Known for his passion for client service, especially finding new ways to generate better returns on their media investments, Zingale led innovations contributing to two back-to-back Agency of the Year Awards in 2020 and 2021.

Zingale, who was known for mentoring new generations of media talent, credited two of his mentors – USIM founder Dennis Holt, and former Carat CEO David Verklin – as his.

“If there’s ever a Mount Rushmore of Media, their faces will be on it,” Zingale told MediaPost in his All Star profile, but to many of his clients and agency partners, Zingale’s face should be on it too.

He also made a point of ending his interview for the profile by making sure we published that the thing he was most proud of was his family: his wife of 34 years, Jeanne, and his daughter Alexandra and son Connor.