Michael Goldberg, longtime ad executive at Deutsch and Zimmerman, dies at 57

Michael Goldberg, a longtime advertising executive at shops including Deutsch and Zimmerman, died unexpectedly yesterday from complications related to melanoma treatment. He was 57.

Goldberg, most recently a principal at Rojek Consulting, was a rare breed of an advertising executive who balanced a keen sense of competition and new business acumen with an innately human side.

“He was a pragmatic business person, but he always saw the spirit and the big picture, which led us to what really mattered,” said Mark DiMassimo, founder and creative chief of DiMassimo Goldstein, a client of Rojek. “I called him our positive change angel.”

Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that Goldberg as a young man performed for Up with People, a nonprofit that “empowers young adults to make a difference in the world,” according to its website. 

Goldberg began his advertising career at Harris Drury Cohen in 1990, rising to CEO before leaving in 2003. He joined Zimmerman that year as executive VP and chief marketing officer, where he remained for nearly nine years. What followed was a short stint at Porter Novelli before Goldberg joined Deutsch as partner and CMO in 2012. He was recruited back to Zimmerman as CEO two years later, where he worked for six years before joining Rojek.

Matt Powell, CEO of Moroch, another Rojek client, first met Goldberg as rivals—Moroch and Zimmerman shared McDonald’s and Planet Fitness as clients—and ended as friends. “Michael was a really smart businessman who understood how to attack a problem, but also came from an emotional perspective,” said Powell.

“You win by making clients believe they can achieve their goals and helping him get there—this was the belief that Michael lit every room he walked into with,” said Anush Prabhu, global chief creative strategy officer, creative futures, at EssenceMediacom, who worked with Goldberg at Deutsch.

“He had an underlying belief in himself and every person’s ability to accomplish something. He understood that this business was as much about understanding people as it was about learning about consumers,” said Prabhu. “He was a rare person who people respected and loved at the same time—someone whose presence meant as much as his accomplishments.”

“It is with an aching heart that we say goodbye to a person that I think time will confirm is one of the industry greats,” wrote Lorraine Stewart, founder and CEO of Rojek on her LinkedIn page. “Not for what he did but for the kind of person he was.

“His passion for [advertising] came from the golden opportunity it presents to be connected to people; humans all types and inclinations, people who individually and collectively gave him energy as well as a sense of purpose and belonging,” Stewart wrote. “He seemed to nurture the many relationships he collected in life with big and small acts of affirmation, love and kindness.”

“He has been a coach and mentor to me in addition to being a loyal friend,” said Val DiFebo, Deutsch New York CEO. “He added tremendous value to our culture and our offering. He had a deep understanding of our DNA and shared the values we hold so dear.” DiFebo, who called him a new-business czar and “a gifted writer with a wonderful sense of humor,” recalled that Goldberg loved theater, particularly the musical “Rent.”

Said DiFebo: “If you knew Michael, you knew his family and you became his family.”

Powell said that Goldberg was ahead of his time in that he truly believed in and lived purpose before it became an industry buzzword. “We were taught you never brought your personal life into work, but the world is changing and he is one of those people who did that,” said Powell. “His daughters and his wife were his life.”

One of Goldberg’s daughters, Carly Goldberg Black, in fact, followed him into advertising and is now an associate strategy director at Dentsu Creative. Announcing his death on Goldberg’s Facebook page, she wrote: “I’ve looked up to you since the day I was born. I promise I’ll never stop looking up.”

Industry executive responses to that post poured in from around the industry including from Cannes, with more than 300 tributes and counting from industry executives.

Goldberg is also survived by daughters Hannah Goldberg and Emily Goldberg Winer, the latter a rabbi, of whom he was immensely proud, along with his wife of 33 years, Barbara Wagner Goldberg. Emily and Carly are twins.

Goldberg Black said that even on his deathbed, her father was giving his daughters career advice.

His last words, in fact, she said, were about advertising. “He told me he really wanted me to pursue a career in new business.”