Marvin Herbert Kantor

August 26, 1927 - October 14, 2025 Marvin Herbert Kantor died in Granada Hills on October 14, 2025. He was 98.

Born in Brooklyn on August 26, 1927, Marvin grew up in Boyle Heights after his father, Sam, moved the family to Los Angeles in 1933, opening a shoe store on what was then Brooklyn Avenue. His mother, Henrietta, was a homemaker. His beloved older sister, Julia, was a poet, wife and mother.

Marvin graduated from Roosevelt High School and, following a short stint in the Navy at the end of World War II, attended UCLA on the GI Bill. He chose to study medicine on a whim; it just sounded right, and the world was better for it. A born caregiver, Marvin treated patients as a radiation oncologist for forty years at several L.A. hospitals and later in private practice in Whittier.

In 1950, he married Rhoda Kantor née Kahn, to whom he remained wedded, and in love, for more than seventy years. Together Marvin and Rhoda collected art, traveled, entertained friends and, right through their 80s, stayed fit by jumping rope. They had two children together, Ona and Steven, whom they adored, supported, and indulged when necessary. Marvin and Rhoda held hands until her death in 2022.

Marvin was brilliant, loving, and adventurous; a troublemaker with a trademark smirk when the occasion called. He was a devotee of the L.A. Times, reading it every morning, come rain or shine. He cared deeply and generously for his friends. He lived for his family. In addition to his two children, he is survived by four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He will be missed by all who knew him.