Ronald Martin Popeil was born May 3, 1935, in New York City. He was 3 when his parents divorced, and his father largely abandoned him. He spent several years at a boarding school before he was taken in by his strict grandparents in Florida. (In 1974, Mr. Popeil’s stepmother was convicted of hiring hit men to kill her estranged husband. She served 19 months in prison, and the two later remarried.)

Source: Washington Post July 29, 2021 23:39 UTC