Marvin Ira Duckler's Obituary
Marvin Ira Duckler died peacefully at his home in Tucson, AZ on January 24th, 2018. He had recently celebrated his 90th birthday, and had just welcomed his first great-grandchild to the world. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Marvin graduated from Brooklyn College, and remained a Brooklyn Boy throughout his life, no matter where he lived. On a fateful day in 1951, on a packed elevator, he met the beautiful, intelligent and amazing Naomi Weinstein, who lived in the apartment below him. At that point Marv knew his life would be forever changed, and that his pursuit of happiness was inexorably tied to Naomi’s happiness. After a whirlwind courtship of romance and laughter, they married that same year. They had four fantastic kids, and lived a life of travel, wit, and adventure for 60 years. We believe that Marvin and Naomi are together again, continuing their eternal party.
Marvin had a varied career and many impressive professional positions- all showcasing his creativity, resourcefulness and irreverence. He worked as a Lighting Director, Set Designer, Writer and Producer for CBS New York during the “Golden Years of Live Television.” He created the look for such shows as “The Guiding Light,” “Studio One,” “The Edge of Night”, and “Captain Kangaroo.” He produced, directed and starred in several television shows, including the educational ‘before-its-time’ program, “The Man in the Box of Blocks” and the news magazine program, “Mosaic” for Tucson’s KUAT. The unprecedented Nielsen Ratings received by his creation of “Empleen Ingles,” a groundbreaking program to teach English to Spanish-speaking viewers, shocked and woke up the commercial TV industry to the fact that creative, fun and useful television did not need to be big budget Hollywood. Marv also worked in live theater, film, and television; and as professor at the University of Arizona, Southern Illinois University, and Brooklyn College. He was a producer and director at San Francisco’s National Center for Experiments in Television, and crafted beautiful cutting-edge video art. He wrote many scripts, presentations and musings.
Marvin enjoyed reading, writing, travel, and being with his beloved Naomi. His legacy is his family - his four children - all of whom he loved, taught, encouraged and embarrassed as much as possible. His kids loved, feared, endured, cherished and admired him. The Four Ducks that Naomi and he created knew that their dad was renowned for his brilliant humor, sense of magic, eccentric wit, and his appreciation of the absurdities of life. He will be profoundly missed for his jokes and stories, his contagious laugh, mischievous sparkle in his eye, and deep wisdom. He is survived by his four children and their spouses, Ariel Duckler-Levy and Gil Levy, Mordecai “Max” and Suzanne Duckler, Ana and Pascal Forest, Sara Duckler and Richard Millet. He is missed by his adoring grandchildren: David, Lily, Gali, Uri, Nadav, Eva, Matan, Adam, Benjamin, Isabella, Rachel, and his great-grandbaby. He loved and was deeply attached to his remarkable care team: Coreen, Virginia, Don and Roxy.
A graveside service will be held at Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson, AZ on Monday, January 29th, 2018 at 11am, in the B’nai B’rith section. A gathering to celebrate his life will be held in Berkeley, CA (where he resided for over 30 years) on Sunday, February 4th, 2018. Please contact the family for information and details. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to either Emerge Women's Shelter or Casa De Los Ninos Crisis Shelter in Tucson, where Marv dropped off a 30 lb sock full of change every few months to help women and children get through crisis situations.
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