Iturbi married María Giner de los Santos in 1916; she died in 1928; they had one child, María. María Iturbi married Stephan Hero, an American concert violinist who had been one of her father`s protégés in 1936; they had two daughters, Maria Antonia and Maria Theresa, before separating in 1939. At age 28, in 1946, Iturbi`s daughter committed suicide. María Hero had obtained legal custody of the children in her 1941 divorce; her former husband had them for three months of each year. In 1943 Iturbi took his daughter to court for custody of the girls, calling her unfit, according to The New York Times.Hero absconded with them while Iturbi was on a European concert tour in 1947. After a court battle, Iturbi and his former son-in-law ultimately resolved their differences, and the girls remained with their father.