Rainer Joachim Zindler was born to his parents August and Gerda Zindler in Forestburg, Alberta on September 4th, 1931. He was the second born of 4 children, with an older brother William, who died an infant. His parents and siblings - younger sisters, Mildred (Reich) and Irmgard (Nikolai), migrated to Vancouver before he started school, landing in the Fraser Street area of Vancouver. Trudy Schultz lived next-door and eventually became his wife in August of 1953. He graduated from UBC earlier in the spring of 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts in Science and was intending to go to medical school until the professors there told him that, as a medical doctor, he would not be allowed to practice any of his father’s bone setting (like chiropractic), so he headed off to the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto where he completed his doctorate in Chiropractic in 1957. He established a clinic on Fraser Street in Vancouver that eventually moved to the Oakridge area maintaining the name “Fraser Chiropractic”.
After 44 years of marriage, he lost his beloved Trudy in a car accident in September 1997, after 44 years of marriage, but had the joy of meeting and marrying Verna Ross, just over 2 years later. They enjoyed 11 years together before she was taken from him through cancer in the Fall of 2011.
He was the unofficial Chiropractor for the B.C. Lions for many years and an avid fan. It was from the many players who he treated that he got the nickname “Dr. Zee”. He continued to practice his craft until he was 89 years of age, stopping only because of COVID19 shutdowns in 2020. He was not able to return to work and was diagnosed with dementia in 2021 during a hospitalization. Dementia and a failing heart resulted in him having his driver’s license revoked which was tragic for someone who had been driving since he was 14 and who was very zealous about automobiles. Eventually he needed more consistent care and moved into Hamilton High Street Residence in January of 2022, where he was living until he passed away in his sleep, on June 16th at 8:15am.
He was not only a renowned Chiropractor, he was also an excellent salesman. He worked hard to promote his profession as well as Bethany Baptist Church, SAS shoes, Audi automobiles, the B.C. Lions, Penny’s underwear and a host of things that he might have over identified with. He liked to brag about his children who have survived him - Randy Zindler (Patricia), Cheryl Berto (Frank), David Zindler (Trina), Ryan Zindler (Shari), step children David Ross (Arlene), and Cheryl Jaud (David). He was also proud to be a grandfather to Daniel, Cailee, Cameron, Elise, Zoe, Benita, Josh, Talia, and some later arrivals, Sara, Amy, Tolu, Temi, Daryl and Christopher. He is also survived by his sister Irmgard. We are grateful that he is at peace in the arms of Jesus and pain free.
The funeral service was at Bethany Baptist Church in Richmond, B.C. on June the 24th.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.17