Francis Neil Pintauro Of North Haven Dies October 7

Francis Neil Pintauro

Francis Neil Pintauro, known to his family and friends as “Frank,” of North Haven and Williston Park, died at home on Sunday, October 7. He was 61.

Mr. Pintauro was born to Anthony and Dorothy Pintauro on June 9, 1951. He graduated from Brooklyn Prep High School in 1969 and Manhattan College in 1973. He started working at NBC when he was in college, eventually becoming, at age 27, the youngest vice president at the network in NBC history. He also worked at ABC and Hal Riney before joining Showtime in 1989. At Showtime, he rose to executive vice president and chief creative officer of Red Group. He was instrumental in developing the network’s award-winning branding campaigns, and was responsible for overseeing creative for on-air, editorial production, marketing promotion and graphics, animation, digital content and print. In 2011 Red Group was named Best In-House Agency of the year by PromaxBDA.

Mr. Pintauro’s passion was fishing. He started fishing as a child in Sag Harbor and catching striped bass soon became his favorite sport. He was also a collector of antique fishing lures, and he was one of the founders of the Salt Water Lure Collectors Club. His expertise as both a fisherman and collector were well known and well respected.

Mr. Pintauro is survived by his wife of 32 years, Kathy; two sons, Anthony and David; his mother, Dorothy; a sister, Barbara Lobosco and her husband Stephen; brothers, Ritchard Pintauro and his wife Lynnette, and Robert Pintauro and his wife Laura; a sister-in-law, Beth Kelisek and her husband Bob; and a brother-in-law, John Minkowsky. He is also survived by 14 nieces and nephews, Danielle, Samanthe, Stephen, Daniel, Melissa, Megan, Jaclyn, Michael, Jill, Bob, Michael, Jack, Elizabeth and Benjamin.

The family will receive friends and family at Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor on Thursday, October 11, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held at St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church on Division Street on Friday, October 12, at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow at St. Andrew’s Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to benefit research in gallbladder cancer under the direction of Dr. Diane Reidy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Send to: MSKCC, Attn: Jill Zatorski, 633 Third Avenue, 12th Floor South, New York, NY 10017.