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Marvin Haltzer

Marvin Haltzer, a kind and beloved resident of Old Saybrook, passed away peacefully on June 11. He was born April 17, 1933, in the Bronx, New York, to Matilda Seidel and Alexander Haltzer. As a child, Marvin lived with his mother in Brooklyn, New York but also lived with grandparents in Sheepshead Bay and relatives in Phoenix, Arizona, for extended periods, where he learned to adapt to new environments. He graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn.

As a youth, Marvin had a passion for fishing in Sheepshead Bay. He worked various jobs: hauling sodas in buckets of ice to women in sweatshops, folding boxes at a family bakery, delivering Christmas trees for tips only, and working as a mail boy at Tradewinds Inc.

As a teenager, Marvin enlisted in the Navy for the Korean War and served as sonarman 2nd class on the destroyer USS Daly #519. After traveling the world, Marvin returned to Brooklyn and found work in Manhattan as a statistician at Consolidated Cigars and later as a teleprompter for some of television’s big stars, including Arthur Godfrey, Jackie Gleason, and Nat King Cole.

In 1963, Marvin graduated from Columbia University, where he studied English literature, engineering, and then pharmaceutics. He worked four years in various drugstores before starting his own business, Long Beach Surgical on Long Island.

On June 14, 1992, Marvin met Kim Muller-Thym, a Maryland native, on a train in the West Highlands of Scotland. They fell in love and later married by a creek, creating a home in Old Saybrook while spending summers in Lockeport, Nova Scotia. Kim retired from publication design in NYC and learned oil painting, while Marvin became an avid wood sculptor. He made furniture and fanciful objects with driftwood, exhibiting annually in the Wee Fairy Village at The Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme.

Marvin will be remembered for his love of ice cream, laughter, sailing, farming, making woodland paths, dancing, singing, and going to the gym. He had a beautiful smile, keen sense of humor, and genuine love for others.

Marvin is survived by his devoted wife Kim Muller-Thym and their dog Fido; as well as his first wife Jane Haltzer (Florida) and their three daughters, Faith McCusker (Maryland), Jackie Schonfeld (New York), and Alex Ghamar (New Jersey); their husbands; and five grandsons.

Services will be private, and donations may be made to The Old Saybrook Food Pantry (366 Main St, Old Saybrook, CT 06475) or The Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org).

Marvin’s memory will live on in the hearts of those who knew and loved him.