Farewell to Peter Costiglio, PR Giant and True Gentleman

The news came with a jolt. Peter Costiglio, veteran PR maven that I had dealt with for 40 years covering the media industry had passed at the age of 76.

The cause of death was Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

Jon Friedman, now a SUNY Stony Brook professor and the Public Eye columnist for Straus News called with the sad news. Years earlier, Friedman was covering Wall Street and I was in the media swirl running the now-defunct MagazineWeek when Friedman tipped me off that the PR vice president from Prudential Bache was jumping ship to become the chief communications exec for Time Inc., then the most powerful and profitable magazine company in America, which in addition to flagship Time published People, In Style, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and many more.

When I called Costiglio out of the blue, he wanted to play by the rules. While he recognized the scoop I wanted to publish, he also did not want to tick off his new bosses before he even arrived. He checked with Time Inc. and they gave him the OK to talk.

It was the start of a 40-year run with a man who became not only a trusted PR man but a personal friend. When my kids were young and I told him we were considering a neighborhood Catholic School, Costiglio, who was on the school board at Loyola High School on the UES where his three kids attended high school, said he knew the principal of the school we were considering at Epiphany and that all the kids from there who went on to attend Loyola H.S. “always did very well.” He was a huge fan of Jesuit education, having attended Xavier High School in Chelsea and then Holy Cross for his B.A. And his funeral Mass on March 22 was celebrated at St. Ignatius Loyola Church on the UES.

As I climbed through various publications in my career, Peter Costiglio was always as steady and honest a PR man as you could ever find. He treated everyone the same and even on stories where we gave his company a hard time, he never held a grudge. After he left Time Inc. he held corporate communications jobs at the Rockefeller Foundation and then Lexis/Nexis.

He had a beloved Long Island beach house in Point Lookout, that in August he would rent to some of the NY Jets players when the team still did its pre-season work at Hofstra. He was a lifelong Jets fan. Over the years, I’d get updates on his three children—Paul, Mark, and Beth—who all eventually followed him into the communications field. Mentoring started at home.

I can’t tell you how many PR people I’ve dealt with over the years, but knowing that Peter Costiglio is gone genuinely rocked me. Shortly after I had heard from Jon Friedman about Peter’s passing, I received a text from Peter’s son Paul. And he said over the years, he always felt like he knew me, and I felt the same about him, since in phone calls or lunches at the Time corporate dining room or Michael’s or Keen’s Chophouse, we’d always update each other on our respective three kids even as we talked the mandatory business of the day.

At his wake, of course at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home on Madison Avenue, I mentioned to Paul how his dad in my early days would redline copy with editing symbols on how he thought we could have written a story differently. Paul confided that his dad used the same red line while correcting their homework growing up.

In his PR career, Peter was a mentor to many. Robert Pondiscio was a young, almost-out-of-a-job aspiring PR man when he landed what was expected to be a short-term gig at Time Inc. Then he ran into Peter Costiglio.

“I’ve had the benefit of some wonderful mentors over the years, but none greater than Peter Costiglio,” Pondiscio posted on Facebook. “It is not an exaggeration to say no one did more to set the direction of my adult life and career. In 1989, when NBC Radio moved to Washington, DC, and offered me lousy hours and a pay cut to go with them, I took a job in the Radio and TV Publicity department at Time Inc. It was supposed to be a six-month project, but Peter, the head of corporate communications, took me under his wing, putting me in charge of PR for Life magazine, which led to a job at Time, and from there everything else.

“At every turn he was there to watch out for me, offer guidance and share his wisdom and experience. He was also the master of the small gesture. When something went well, a bottle of wine and a hand-written note appeared on your desk; when you needed a boost, he’d hand you his corporate Amex card and suggest a place to go for dinner. Long after I left publishing, he’d get some of the old gang together for dinners. In a field where the relationship between comms and reporters could be contentious, I never heard a harsh word spoken about him. A gentleman, a pro, a mensch, and quite simply the best man I’ve ever known.”

The feeling was mutual on the journalism side as I can personally attest. Jon Friedman, who, thanks to his days covering Wall Street and then the media world, was fortunate to know Peter Costiglio even longer than myself said: “Peter was pure class. Always friendly and curious. His great skill as a PR specialist was that he thought like a journalist would, in terms of covering story ideas and angles. He never lied to me and never misled me.

“Remember, Peter had the two most challenging and cynical industries in Manhattan in his career,” said Friedman. “Wall Street and media. He never betrayed the trust of either his employer or the media. And he became a trusted confidant and friend over the years. He was one of a kind.”

Costiglio was born and raised in Manhattan. In addition to his three children and their spouses, he is survived by his wife of 54 years, Barbara, and his siblings, Eugene Costiglio and Teresa (Costiglio) Cantwell; and his nine grandchildren: Grace, Ava, Molly, Emma, Jack, Andrew, Lily, Matthew, and Meg. The family asked that donations in his name be made to the Catholic Health Good Shepherd Hospice in Farmingdale, NY, where he spent his final days.