Joseph Monastro, an executive at BMG Direct and chairman of the board of directors of PostCom, died of stomach cancer Aug. 16. He had been in the hospital for most of the past six months. Monastro was 53.
Monastro was senior director of postal affairs and catalog operations at BMG Direct, New York, and served as the representative of the Recording Industries Association of America to the Postmaster General's Mailers Technical Advisory Committee. He worked from the Indianapolis office of BMG, where its fulfillment division is based.
Monastro was a leader in postal reform.
“Joe was responsible for handling all of our interactions with the postal service, and he spent a lot of time in Washington and was a member of a number of committees, working with postal officials and large mailers,” said Tom Hoekzema, vice president of operations and general manager at BMG Direct. “He clearly was a main driver in BMG Direct being able to help control its costs and look for opportunities to improve our operating efficiences. We and our entire industry will miss him.”
A successor has not yet been named.
BMG Direct is the 21st largest customer of the U.S. Postal Service.
Monastro, who was an Army veteran of the Vietnam War and a recipient of the Purple Heart, is survived by his wife, Marilyn K. Berrigan Monastro, five daughters and a son.
