Karen Marie Martinez (1963-2026)

By Max Cohen · Thu Oct 08 2026

Karen Marie Martinez: A Local Hero

Karen Marie Martinez, 63, of the Sunset Mesa community in Malibu, passed away on Saturday, September 26th, in Pacific Palisades, California, from metastatic ocular melanoma.

Karen was born in Pomona, California. She was the youngest of three children born to Leroy Martinez Jr. and Rita Eva Marie Mürmel, and a proud Mexican-German American. As a child, she was incredibly bright, reading the entire dictionary and drawing her own maze puzzles after school. At Nogales High School, she was homecoming queen, cheerleading song leader, and vice president. Her peers voted her Best Figure, Best Smile, and Most Popular. She got her undergraduate degree in Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University.

Karen was a lifelong community activist. When she learned that LED lightbulbs were more efficient than fluorescent bulbs, she led a lightbulb drive in Pacific Palisades.

Karen spent 30 years as a residential real estate agent in West LA, but her real passion was green building advocacy and remodeler. She worked as an owner-builder, hand-drawing her own plans and overseeing six rebuilds in Pacific Palisades. In her downtime, she kept her brain sharp with Sudoku, puzzles, and Wordle.

After the Palisades Fire burned her home in Malibu, Karen advocated for the use of non-combustible building materials, recruiting local architects and general contractors. She also helped her neighbors find more affordable materials and lower their insurance rates. Her work grew into a movement for better, safer building, catching the attention of the Los Angeles Times, CBS Sunday Morning, LAist, Spectrum News, and many international news outlets.

Karen is survived by her son, Max (22); daughter, Arielle (25); father, Leroy Martinez Jr.; sister, Melissa Riner; and many beloved nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her mother, Rita Granada; sister, Melinda Walters; and husband, Barry Cohen.