‘Family Ties’ Creator Gary David Goldberg Dies at Age 68
Image by Getty Images
Gary David Goldberg, whose hit 1980s television sitcom “Family Ties” gave a warm portrayal of generational conflict and launched the acting career of Michael J. Fox, has died at age 68, his son-in-law said on Monday.
Goldberg died of a brain tumor on Saturday at his home in Montecito, California, said his son-in-law Rob Dubbin.
“Family Ties” aired between 1982 and 1989 and ranked second only to “The Cosby Show” in viewership between 1985 and 1987.
In 1987, Goldberg won an Emmy for his writing work on “Family Ties,” a show that also earned Fox three Emmy Awards for lead actor in a comedy series.
Born and raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, Goldberg worked as a waiter, traveled the world with his future wife, Diana Meehan, and ran a daycare center in Northern California before, in his early 30s, he landed a job writing for TV’s “The Bob Newhart Show,” according to Goldberg’s website.
Goldberg went on to create his own company, UBU Productions, naming it after his Labrador Retriever, and it was through that company that he launched “Family Ties” in 1982 on NBC.
The show starred Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter as Steven and Elyse Keaton, a couple who were left-wing activists in the 1960s but went on to adopt a middle-class life as they raised four children in suburban Columbus, Ohio.
Much of the show’s humor centered on the clashing values between the former hippies and their teenage Republican son, Alex, played by Michael J. Fox. Alex admired then President Ronald Reagan and read the Wall Street Journal, to the chagrin of his parents.
The Keatons’ oldest daughter, Mallory, played by Justine Bateman, was less political than Alex, but differed from her mother by showing little interest in feminism.
In 2008, Goldberg told USA Today that “Family Ties” was “totally autobiographical in concept” for him.
“Diana and I were the parents, and our daughter Shana was as smart as Alex but could shop with Mallory,” he told the paper.
After “Family Ties,” Goldberg went on to co-create the television comedy “Spin City,” which debuted in 1996 and starred Fox as the deputy mayor of New York. The show ran until 2002.
Goldberg also produced the 2005 romantic comedy “Must Love Dogs” starring Diane Lane and John Cusack.
He is survived by his wife, a brother, two children and three grandchildren.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
