Marvin Zindler - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 1941, he married his first wife, the former Gertrude S. Kugler (May 30, 1921 - November 28, 1997). They had five children together; Marvin Jr., Donny, Danny, Mark and Helen. When Gertrude died, Zindler vowed he would never marry again, yet he fell in love with Niki Devine and married her in 2006. Before his death, Marvin and Niki Zindler lived in the Houston neighborhood of Maplewood, where Zindler had lived continuously for forty-eight years. They were the owners of a dog, Magic, a bichon frisé. Additionally, Zindler owned a cat, Sugar, who died in 2006. At the time of his death, Zindler had five children, nine grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

At one point in the 1970s, Zindler considered running for Congress as a Republican, and the local GOP commissioned surveys that predicted he would win. However, Gertrude was hesitant to leave Houston, and the plans were dropped. Also, Zindler described himself as a social liberal who supported universal health care. He had initially been a Democrat and a Lyndon B. Johnson supporter. Zindler's father was a four-term mayor of suburban Bellaire and was also a liberal; he was a card-carrying member of the NAACP and opponent of the Ku Klux Klan and his clothing store was among a handful of Houston businesses that advertised in African-American newspapers.

Zindler was known for wearing makeup continually, loved cigars, and was a frequent golfer. He had his own producer and cameraman as well as his own editing suite at KTRK. Zindler was also noted for his seventeen cosmetic surgeries, the first of which took place in 1954 after the KPRC-TV firing. KTRK's longtime investigative reporter, Wayne Dolcefino, has described Zindler's egregious behavior in the office, including loud phone conversations (which Dolcefino attributed to his poor hearing) and trademark zealous pursuit of reports.