Christian child psychologist, broadcaster Dr. James Dobson dies

Christian author, psychologist, and family advocate, James “Jim” Dobson, Jr., has died, according to a Thursday statement from the institute he founded. He was 89 years old.

Dobson was the son, grandson, and great-grandson of ministers. While he didn’t pursue his forefathers’ vocation, his evangelical roots did play a major role in his professional journey. He infused Biblical teaching with the psychology he studied in Southern California in the 1950s and ’60s and served as a professor of pediatrics and a child psychologist at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles.

In 1970, he wrote the first of his many books, Dare to Discipline. The book denounced permissive parenting and encouraged corporal punishment. By that time, Dobson’s own family was growing. Yielding to his father’s counsel, he left the academic world when he could no longer ignore what he called the demise of the family, including his own. “I was neglecting my own family, and my dad saw it,” Dobson said later. “[My dad] said, ‘If you don’t have time to invest in them and pray with them, you’ll lose them.’”

Seven years later, Dobson started the Christian advocacy group Focus on the Family. Its first radio broadcast was a 25-minute weekly program that was carried on 40 stations. In less than 10 years, the broadcast reached global status. The ministry expanded in other ways, too, including several film series, monthly newsletters, the launch of several magazine titles, and the revival of children’s radio theatre through its Adventures in Odyssey program.

After relocating to Colorado Springs, Colo., Dobson stepped into the world of politics and established the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. He served as an adviser to five U.S. presidents, including Ronald Reagan. “[Reagan] said, ‘I want you to tell me what I can do to strengthen the family,’” Dobson recounted. He suggested a family impact study commission, and Reagan issued the executive order.

Dobson spoke out against gay marriage and publicly criticized Republican leaders for not standing behind what some called the Christian social agenda.

In 2005, The New York Times called him the nation’s most influential evangelical leader. Four years later, he resigned from the board of directors of Focus and ended his broadcasting career there, citing “significant philosophical differences” with his successor. He soon launched the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, continuing his mission through Family Talk, his new nationally syndicated talk show.

In honor of his more than 40 years in broadcasting, Family Talk launched the Dobson Digital Library, making four decades of Dobson’s family-centered content accessible to all. “The digital library is quite possibly the most important project we’ve ever undertaken, and that’s why we’ve made it free for families and ministries everywhere,” they said. 

Dobson leaves behind his wife of 64 years, Shirley, their two children, Danae and Ryan, and two grandchildren, according to the institute.