Marvin Petal

Marvin Petal died on April 17, 2013, in Oxnard at the age of 84 after a battle with cancer. He was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Marvin graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1948, with a degree in journalism. While he was there he wrote for the "Seattle Post Intelligencer." Marvin's parents relocated from Canada and he followed them to L.A. in 1952.

He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict. While in Korea, he wrote for the "Stars and Stripes." He returned to Los Angeles in 1954, where he worked for the L.A. Herald Examiner, and KTLA television station. He was a talented writer who wrote scripts and acted in early television. Later he wrote for the "L.A. Examiner" and did post graduate work at UCLA. The Twilight Zone episode, "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" was adapted by Rod Serling from Marvin's script "The Depository." Marvin covered business and economics for McGraw Hill World News for 22 years. He wrote many cover stories for Business Week and other McGraw magazines. In 1970, he led a 12-member journalist group to interview Chiang Kaishek. He was Bureau Chief in London, Tokyo and Los Angeles and he became European editor in 1975. After his retirement from McGraw Hill, Marvin did writing, editorial and public relations work for various publications and businesses.

Marvin moved from Santa Monica to Oxnard in 1991. He became very active in his local community. He served on the City of Oxnard Revitalization Committee, Southwinds Neighborhood Council, volunteered for the Oxnard Library and trained with the Oxnard Police Department Citizens Academy as well as serving on the Ventura County Grand Jury. He was a frequent writer to the editorial pages of the "Ventura County Star" and the "L.A. Times."

Marvin is survived by his wife, Diane, his former wife Ruth, three children, a son-in-law, and three grandchildren.

Memorial services were held at Hillside Memorial Park in Century City, Calif., on April 21, 2013.