Obituary of Martin Brenner
Martin Brenner was an unusually talented man who always put his family interest before his own.
Marty also called “Dado” by his grandkids, “Cowboy Marty” and “Motts” by his friends, and “Scooter” by his sports fans was born in Red Bank, NJ on December 28th, 1937. His father Irving was a baseball player and his loving mother Sylvia came from a family of talented artists and dancers.
Their love and genetics led Marty to become an exceptional athlete at Red Bank High School and Rider College. He was named to the First Team All-State in NJ for basketball and baseball meaning he was one of the top 5 and top 10 high school players in each sport respectively. He also played both sports at Rider and played baseball professionally within the NY Baseball Giants system.
Marty was also talented creatively blessed with strong talents for drawing and invention. He was an accomplished advertising executive working early in his career with the large automakers out of Detroit among others. He later founded the marketing/promotional division of Arlen Trophy Company, which was the first company to create and execute on the concept of individual trophies. Prior to Arlen, trophies were relegated only to teams. After Arlen, Marty built his own promotional marketing company called Marken, Inc. (after his two children) serving the large pharma companies in NJ.
His creative talents also led Marty to host many creative parties both at his home in NJ and most recently at the Fountains Country Club in Lake Worth Florida.
Mostly though, Marty’s story is about his life as Dado and his commitment to family. It started as a true love story meeting his soul mate Barbara Greenhouse when she was 15 and he was 17. They married 5 years later and moved to their house at 24 Skyline Drive in Warren NJ where they resided for 55 years. In that house they had two boys Mark and Ken that under his guidance also had successful careers in sports, business, and families. Mark married Michelle and delivered to grandchildren, Josh and Jessie. Ken married Amy and had 4 grandchildren, Jake, Kailey, Kolby, and Allie who the family lost at 11 months of age to Spinal Muscular (SMA).
Throughout his life, Dado always put his family first. He coached his kid’s teams and was always a source of inspiration for them and his grandchildren. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the town of Warren for creating the Warren Middle School All-Stars basketball team which he coached for over 15 years which exists to this day. Dado invested more time and energy into his family than typical fathers of his time or today rarely missing games or school events and providing great family experiences at Long Beach Island, St. Croix USVI among many others.
Finally, he was part of a 58 year old fairy tale love story with Barbara. They were named king/queen of proms and parties throughout their life as people watched them dance and recognized their love for each other and others. They were joined by many new friends when they established their second home at the Fountains in Lake Worth, FL.
As the final hurrah, Marty requested to get home and was whisked by a private plane from Florida to his New Jersey home to visit with his grandkids and sister’s family on Friday March 22 before he passed away on Tuesday March 26.
Memorial Contributions in Honor of Marty Brenner
On behalf of Marty Benner’s beloved granddaughter “Baby Allie”
who lost her life at 11-months to the #1 genetic cause of infant death, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)
Memorial gifts to support Dr. Lorson's work on SMA at the College of Veterinary Medicine may be submitted to University of Missouri and mailed to:
Office of Advancement, College of Veterinary Medicine, W210 Veterinary Medicine Building, Columbia, MO 65211 with a memo indicating Marty Brenner’s Memorial.
Online: giving.missouri.edu.
If gifts include a note indicating the gift is a Memorial for Marty Brenner, then gifts will support Dr. Lorson's work on SMA.
Ken and Amy received national attention when they raffled their tickets to the 1999 Super Bowl match-up of the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons. Several Broncos have rallied to Allie’s aide and helped to raise funds. The event landed them on NBC’s “Today Show” twice as well as in the pages of hundreds of publications. People were surprised to hear that SMA is the number one inherited cause of infant death. Some form of SMA affects almost one in 6,000 newborns. There is no treatment or cure for it today. Recent medical advances have identified the cause of SMA—a missing gene which results in failure of the body to produce “messenger genes” which provide for the production of functional proteins and communication among cells. Without these capabilities, otherwise normal and healthy nervous system functions fail as the lower motor neurons in the base of the brain and spinal cord die. Although Ken knew it would not help Allie’s fate, who died later that year, it has sparked something inside Ken that drives him passionately to make a difference and carry out Allie’s legacy.”
For donation questions: Janie Harmon , Advancement, College of Veterinary Medicine
O: 573-884-2896
