On March 26, 1991, Carl Ally was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Fame.  His career at his agency Carl Ally, Inc. and Ally & Gargano was 23 years long.  His most noted accomplishments were his battle of turning unknown and troubled companies into household names.  He was also credited for changing television’s rules about mentioning the competitor’s name in commercials. 

Carl Ally died of a heart attack on February 15, 1999 at 74 years of age.  He died near his home in Rowayton, Connecticut. Ally was married and divorced four times, and was survived by five children and four grandchildren. 

Though he is gone, his values and practices remain with us and continue to influence today’s advertising.  One writer who had the privilege of listening to him speak took away a lesson of “maintaining your self-respect and your determination to say and do what you think is right, whatever the cost” [9].  This belief was ultimately the reason that people “either loved him or didn’t,” according to Ed McCabe who says “I loved him” [13]. 

An outsider in both birth and work, Carl Ally was not only able to shock and dazzle his clients with amazing groundbreaking work, but he was also able to turn their fortunes around completely.  Besides helping many clients, he also taught and influenced many bright minds of the industry, and is still helping those young people who can only read about him.  Ron Berger, who began his career in the Carl Ally mailroom once said, “He’s a person that I have a lot of feeling for.  I owe a lot to that agency.  I spent half my life there” [14].