David Baker, a pioneering digital advertising and CRM executive who also was among MediaPost's most prolific columnists, died Tuesday. He was 58.

Baker, who most recently served as CEO of industry advisory firm Salire LLC, held senior positions at Acxiom, Razorfish, Agency.com, among others during his career.

"David, throughout his life, was always the smartest person in the room," friend and former colleague Ryan Phelan, RPE Origin CEO, posted in a tribute on the company's blog, adding, "Not in a boastful or arrogant way, but you always wanted to hear what he thought. In the mar-tech space, he was able to move beyond what today was and see farther down the road."

Between 2005 and 2017, Baker authored 343 columns - mostly Email Insiders - as a MediaPost columns, all if which can be found here.

According to his profile, Baker is one of only three people to be awarded the MediaPost "Lifetime Achievement" award (in 2012) and was also the recipient of the DMA-EEC "Thought Leader of the Year" award in 2016 for his positive impact on digital marketing.