(14 February 1927 - 3 August 1946) (her death) (1 child)
At age seventeen, Todd married Bertha Freshman in Crown Point, Indiana, on Valentine's Day 1927. He had been interested in Bertha since age fourteen, but needed to develop confidence before even asking her out. In 1929, she bore him a son, Mike Todd, Jr. A turning point came for Todd when his father died in 1931; Avrom Goldbogen decided to change his name to Mike Todd the same day Bertha Todd died of a pneumothorax (collapsed lung) in 1946 in Santa Monica, California, while undergoing surgery at St. John's Hospital for a damaged tendon in her finger. Todd and his wife were separated at the time of her death; less than a week earlier, he had filed for divorce.
Having married the former Bertha Freshman on February 14, 1927, he was the father of an infant son and had no home for his family. Todd's subsequent business career was volatile, and failed ventures left him bankrupt many times.