Kenneth Lee Zoller

Kenneth Lee Zoller died November 26, 2025 in Lufkin, TX, at the age of 71.

Ken was born January 25, 1954 in Midland, the middle child to Marvin Zoller and Sue (Elliott) Zoller. The family moved briefly to Roswell and Amarillo before returning to Midland in 1960. Called “Kenny” as a kid, he loved sports from an early age, playing football, baseball, and basketball as he grew increasingly obsessed with the Texas Longhorns. He would joke that he was the “black sheep” in a family of Texas Tech grads (though his little sister Tanya eventually followed him to Texas). He graduated from Midland High School in 1972 and remained a devoted Bulldog too – he still had a monthly dinner with a group of high school buddies.

After graduating from the University of Texas in 1976, Ken returned from Austin to Midland and began his career as a CPA in public practice, then for family oil and gas companies. He retired in 2021 as the Chief Financial Officer for H.L. Brown Operating. He served on charitable boards for many causes close to his heart, including High Sky Children’s Ranch, Midland Children’s Rehabilitation Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Sibley Nature Center.

Ken met his wife of 45 years, Cindy, in downtown Midland on their lunch break in 1979. He loved to tell the story of when he “picked her up on the street corner”! They married in 1980 and welcomed daughters Katherine and Kimberly in 1985 and 1988. Ken taught his girls to hunt and fish and love good music, coached them in basketball and soccer, and bragged about them endlessly. They inherited his orange blood and he would have loved to see them hugging, crying and laughing two days after his passing as the Longhorns beat the Aggies, 27-17. Talk about “eternal scoreboard” and his favorite stat: it has now been 5,532 days since A&M beat Texas.

We’re pretty sure Ken felt that being born a Texan was about the best thing he ever did. He was tickled to learn his Alsatian ancestors helped found the town of Castroville, making him a fourth-generation Texan on the Zoller side. He was no less proud to be an Elliott! His mother’s huge family meant that he couldn’t count the number of cousins he had, but he loved their reunions and remained close to his favorites.

Ken developed his interest in photography throughout his adulthood and always had the latest camera for family snapshots, vacations with friends, and home videos. In his later years, he found his passion photographing Texas and the Southwest as well as mentoring fellow shutterbugs. His work has been featured in Texas Parks & Wildlife, Texas Monthly, and an episode of Texas Country Reporter. He shot calendars for the Midland Chamber of Commerce (2020 & 2021) and Big Bend National Park (2026). When he died, he was in East Texas shooting a few final locations for a planned coffee table book of Texas photography. If you knew him, you know he’d have had some thoughts about dying in East Texas: he always said it was beautiful, he just couldn’t see quite enough of the sky to be exactly comfortable there. He loved a distant horiZon and a West Texas sunset best of all.

Ken was preceded in death by his parents, Marvin Zoller and Sue (Elliott) Zoller, his brother Bruce Zoller, and his nephew Kenny Zoller. He is survived by his wife, Cindy (Henson) Zoller of Midland, daughter Katherine Zoller Brown and husband Michael of Cedar Creek, daughter Kimberly Zoller of Midland; sister Tanya (Zoller) Kreuz and husband Jim of Boerne; nieces Kristel Zoller of San Antonio, Jen (Kreuz) Sedtal of Arlington, and Claire Kreuz of Little Rock, AR; extended family Steve and Cathy Gray, Kelsey Gilbert, and Cody Gray of Oklahoma City, OK; as well as countless cousins and friends. The family would like to thank Gary and Paula Douglas and David and Lisa Ugland for their invaluable help and lifetime of friendship.

A celebration of Ken’s life will be held on Saturday, January 24 at 2:00 at The Branch at NPW, 3800 N. Big Spring St. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to High Sky Children’s Ranch, Sibley Nature Center, and the Big Bend Natural History Association.

To send flowers to the family or place a tree in memory of Kenneth Lee Zoller, please visit our Tribute Store.