He was probably the most successful comic artist in the Netherlands and had a great influence on the Dutch language by introducing new words and expressions.

He was married to the cartoon artist Phiny Dick (1912–1990),[4] who collaborated with her husband and on whose earlier created characters Ollie B Bumble and Tom Puss were based.

[6] Together with his brother, author Jan Gerhard Toonder [nl], he assisted his father, (Captain) Marten Toonder Sr., a seaman born in the Dutch northern province Groningen, to write a book[7] about his life, in which Toonder Sr. describes many details about the closing era of professional cargo sailing, the Rotterdam Lloyd (Line to East Indies), the Holland America Line, and about pre-war Rotterdam.

Marten Toonder died in his sleep on 27 July 2005, aged 93, in Laren, North Holland.

Here he got acquainted with the work of the well-known Argentine artist and editor Dante Quinterno, who ran a studio producing comics.