Ari Bluman, Chief Investment Office of GroupM, a relentless proponent of a clean, well lit place for digital advertising, who tirelessly pushed  for standards around viewable ad units, and for a reliable programmatic platform, succumbed to a long battle with cancer, GroupM announced today.

Two years ago, we sat down with Ari for this interview on the state of the industry.

We produced  this segment at a Beet.TV event in Manhattan in May, 2014 where he declared on stage that GroupM would no longer buy on open exchanges.  You can find that bombshell segment from a session  moderated by Ashley J. Swartz.

Our sympathies go out to Ari’s family, friend and colleagues who will miss him very much.  We all will.

For more on Ari and industry reaction to his passing, read this obituary in AdExchanger by Zach Rodgers.