Swimwear Exec Brian Zientek Dies
Swim business executive Brian Zientek died on Aug. 17 after suffering a heart attack. He was 51.
Zientek founded Beach Patrol in 1988, when he bought a junior swimwear label called Daffy of California, renamed it Beach Patrol and helped turn the company around from a $6.5 million business to a $70 million business.
He moved from Beach Patrol to Ventura, Calif.–based Patagonia, where he headed production before taking the top spot at Sirena Apparel Group in 1999. Zientek joined Sirena seven months after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the wake of a financial scandal. Zientek oversaw the sale of the company’s labels Sirena, Wearabouts, Rosemarie Reed, Jezebel lingerie and licensed Hang Ten, Liz Claiborne and Elizabeth brands.
The Vancouver native was an avid outdoor enthusiast who got his start manufacturing underwater survival equipment for military and industrial use. Zientek held a degree in management and operations from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.
Zientek was respected for his business acumen and his easy going nature.
“The news is pretty devastating for all of us,” said Michelle Pisano, senior vice president of merchandising at Beach Patrol. “Many of us had worked with him for 10 years. He gave us all a lot of opportunities and helped us grow personally as well as professionally in the swim industry”
When Zientek took over Sirena, one of his challenges was to rebuild the morale of the remaining employees. At the time, he compared his job to that of a football coach, saying: “The toughest part was to try to build employee morale, because it had suffered. It’s like somebody who’s in a football game, who’s lost the game and doesn’t feel they can take another step. The job, as the coach or manager, is to instill a sense of pride, instill some motivation, to get everybody up and going and ready for the next game.”
Longtime friend and Rolling Hills, Calif. neighbor Ram Sareen said it was in Zientek’s nature to be supportive.
“He went out of his way to help everybody,” said Sareen, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based CAD/CAM company Tukatech. “He was a confidante, my sounding board. I will miss him. It’s a great loss.”
Zientek is survived by his wife, Geraldine, and sons Adam and Neil. Donations in Zientek’s memory can be made to the Education Foundation of the Fashion Industries at FIT.
A memorial is planned for Aug. 24 at McCormick Mortuary in Redondo Beach, Calif. and the funeral will be held on Aug. 25 at Saint Lawrence Martyr in Torrance, Calif. —Alison A. Nieder
