Herb Gardner was best known as the ex-husband of Rita Gardner.

Herbert George Gardner, better known as Herb Gardner, was an American commercial artist, cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter.

He was born on December 28, 1934 in Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Gardner was the son of a bar owner. His late brother, Robert Allen Gardner, was a professor of comparative psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno and is famous for teaming with his wife Beatrix Gardner on Project Washoe, the attempt to teach American Sign Language to a chimpanzee named Washoe.

Herbert Gardner was educated at New York’s High School of Performing Arts, Carnegie-Mellon University and Antioch College.

Herbert Gardner and actress Rita Gardner married on April 1957.

However, the duo divorce in 1970.

Herbert Gardner later married Barbara Sproul, with whom he raised two adopted sons, Jake Gardner and Rafferty Gardner. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was the boyfriend of actress Marlo Thomas.

Herb Gardner died from lung disease on September 23, 2003 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States.