Marvin David Ginsberg

Marvin David Ginsberg, age 94, of Sun City West, Arizona, died March 10, 2023, after a brief illness. Marvin was born in Baltimore, Maryland, where he spent most of his life before retiring to Arizona. He was predeceased in death by his father, Harry Ginsberg and his mother Ann Buckowitz Ginsberg. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Bernardine Schwartz Ginsberg and his children Cindy Rousseau (George) and Tom Ginsberg (Mimi Papp).

Marvin grew up in Baltimore, attended Forest Park High School, and after serving in the US Army during the Korean conflict, attended University of Maryland where he earned a degree in Electrical Engineering. His long career in engineering, working for several companies involved in satellites and fiber optics, culminated in his retirement from the National Security Agency.

Marvin was well known to his family and friends for being able to fix anything. He fixed cars, TVs, computers, his children’s art projects and taught himself carpentry and built his own furniture. He could pick locks, a skill he used sometimes with childlike mischief. He loved mathematics and taught his 10-year-old daughter to use a slide rule. He loved music and loved to share that with his family. He was adventurous in his own quiet way, traveling extensively after retirement while renewing his interest in photography, and even going skydiving and hang gliding in his seventies.

He loved animals and could befriend even the most suspicious dog or cat with his gentle touch and demeanor, a love that he passed on to his children.

And although it is not widely recognized, Marvin was the inventor of the “dad joke”. His gently sarcastic sense of humor could put anyone at ease, and many of his family and friends knew his jokes by heart. He became engaged to his wife Bernardine after only six weeks of dating, he said, “because this girl needed help”, a joke that he repeated many times over the years.

He will be mourned and missed very much by his family and friends.

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