His parents were Polish Jews who fled to Hungary to escape the Russian invasion during World War I.

In 1952, Targownik moved to Topeka, Kansas, to work at the Menninger Clinic, a popular treatment center for the mentally ill.

Targownik frequently spoke to groups about his Holocaust experience, and gained recognition throughout the state of Kansas and much of the Midwest.

Dr. Targownik worked and led the Kansas Reception & Diagnostic Center, a State Prison outside of Topeka.

This Reception & Diagnostic concept followed from Dr. Karl Menninger's philosophy of criminal rehabilitation, as written about in his book, "The Crime of Punishment" Targownik continued to speak and give interviews through the end of his life, which was complicated by Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.