Channel 13’s Marvin Zindler dies at 85
Marvin Zindler, a Houston institution for more than three decades and a pioneer of consumer reporting, died Sunday at M.D. Anderson Hospital after a fight with cancer. The irascible, flamboyant 85-year-old television personality had been diagnosed in July with inoperable pancreatic cancer that spread to his liver. Even in his last days, Zindler continued to work, filing reports from his hospital bed. In his last report, broadcast Saturday, in which he helped a 45-year-old U.S. citizen secure a Social Security card necessary for employment, Zindler appeared thin and his voice was weak. Still, he signed off with a hearty “MAARVIN ZINDLER, eyewitness news” ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ his trademark for 34 years with KTRK Channel 13.
I was never a big fan of Marvin Zindler, and I suppose not having grown up in Houston might have something to do with that. Having lived here for only two years, I never understood how such a shameless self-promoter could have attained such icon status in Houston. Nonetheless, even I have to admit that Zindler was an original. He may have been to journalism what Jerry Falwell was to Christian tolerance and charity, but people in Houston loved Marvin Zindler.
Working almost literally up to the moment of his death, Zindler at the tail end of his career became something of populist advocate for those who had been wronged by institutions, whether public or private. I suppose the biggest part of his appeal at the tail end of his career and his life was that he could focus the blinding white light of publicity on an institution or person who was doing the wrong thing and shame them into making things right. Not many of us have the opportunity to have that kind of an impact on a community.
I may not been one of Marvin Zindler’s fans, but even I have to admit that he lived a fascinating, outsized life that will likely be remembered for the impact it had on the people of Houston. For those of us who frequently watch KTRK’s news, Zindler’s signature voice and sign-off was as familiar as a morning newspaper. Would that all of us had the opportunity to have an impact on a community and it’s people in the way Marvin Zindler did.
There are others who will chronicle the life and times of Marvin Zindler more ably and knowledgeably than I ever could, but even I can recognize that the man was a true original. We’ll not see his like again any time soon.
