Marvin Menzin

Marvin Menzin passed away peacefully at his home in Lexington, Massachusetts on the evening of Sunday June 21 at the age of 91. He was born in a charity hospital during the Great Depression and raised in Brooklyn, New York to Abe and Betty Menzin, Jewish immigrants from Lithuania and Scotland to whom he was exceptionally devoted. As a child, he developed an unmatched capacity for hard work, learned innovation (his father, a garment worker, obtained a patent on a men’s shirt design), and developed surprisingly good sewing skills from working in the family’s stuffed toy business. He never forgot his roots, appreciating people for their character over extrinsic factors like wealth or glamour.

In 1956 he graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the beginning of a lifelong love for mechanical engineering and over 70 years of friendship with his AEPi brothers. He served as an officer in the United States Navy from 1956-58 which provided him leadership experience, an opportunity to serve a country he loved, and an endless of supply of stories about running the ship’s galley for his children and grandchildren.

After leaving the navy, he worked for several engineering firms before settling in Boston and eventually founding a custom automation company called Design Technology Corporation. For 30 years he designed and built special machinery while earning degrees in engineering and management from Northeastern University at night as he supported his family. He made it home for a dinner break with his family virtually every night and then went back to work for hours, often working until the early morning hours.

He was a kind and generous leader who loved nothing more than brainstorming and sketching machine designs with his fellow engineers. A lifelong inventor, he always had a better solution and was undeterred by skepticism- including the time, when designing a toilet-tank based humidifier, he drank a glass of water from top tank of the toilet to demonstrate its cleanliness.

Marvin gave abundantly of his time and energy. A proud and faithful Jew and ardent Zionist, he supported many causes within the Boston Jewish community and in Israel. He was an active volunteer at Northeastern University and his grandchildren’s schools. He took an extraordinary interest in others, always making time to help someone find a job or solve a problem, including bonding with and advising his caregiver on his educational and career path during his final months.

Marvin’s family was the center of his universe. His older brother, Howard Menzin, and his sister Phyllis Rothstein, who both predeceased him, were his dearest friends; he loved, worried about, and nagged his eight nieces and nephews here and in Israel as if they were his own children. His wife of 58 years, Margaret (whom he called Peggy) was, as he wrote in his final numbered list of things his children should attend to, the “love of [his] life.” They could debate (hotly!) any subject, but he adored and respected her beyond measure. He was immensely proud of, and involved in, the lives of his five children, their spouses, and children. He was always willing to edit a contract, offer advice on a sump pump system, or carpool a grandchild. Having all his children living locally was his greatest joy, and he fittingly passed away on Father’s Day only after each one of them had visited him. His generosity, strength, creativity, and love were the bedrock of the family he worked so hard to build and sustain.

He is survived by his wife Margaret/Peggy, his children Larry (Marit), Sally Menzin Tyszka (Mark), Joe (Roberta), Eleanor (David Hepner), and Abe (Marion), his 13 grandchildren Orly (Kobi Shitrit), Jordan (Julie), Adam, Jonathan (Tara), Talia, Daniel, Lev, Ari, Issac and Eve Menzin and Hannah, Sam and Abby Hepner, his 6 great-grandchildren, 8 nieces and nephews, and 22 great-nieces and nephews.

A Funeral Service will be held at Stanetsky Memorial Chapel, 1668 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02445, on June 24, 2026 at 10:00 am, followed by Interment at Sharon Memorial Park, 40 Dedham Street, Sharon, MA 02067.

Shiva Information:

Wed 6/24 at his late residence

6:30-9 PM, services at 7:30

Thursday 6/25 at the home of Abe Menzin

7:30-11:30 AM visiting hours, services at 7:45 AM

2:00-5:00 PM visiting hours

7:00-9:00 PM visiting hours, services at 7:30 PM

Friday 6/26 at the home of Abe Menzin

7:30-11:30 AM visiting hours, services at 7:45 AM

Sunday 6/28 at the home of Abe Menzin

9 a.m. -11:30 AM visiting hours, services at 9:15 AM

2:00-5:00 PM visiting hours

7:00-9:00 PM visiting hours, services at 7:30 PM

Monday 6/29 at the home of Abe Menzin

7:30-11:30 AM visiting hours, services at 7:45 AM

2:00-5:00 PM visiting hours

7:00-9:00 PM visiting hours, services at 7:30 PM

Tuesday 6/30 at the home of Abe Menzin

7:30-9:00am, services at 7:45 AM

Gifts in his memory may be made to Combined Jewish Philanthropies.