Joyce Brothers

Joyce Brothers
Joyce Brothers in 1957
Born	Joyce Diane Bauer (1927-10-20)October 20, 1927 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	May 13, 2013(2013-05-13) (aged 85) Fort Lee, New Jersey, U.S.
Cause of death	Respiratory failure
Alma mater	Cornell University (BA) Columbia University (Ph.D)
Occupation	Psychologist Advice columnist Writer
Years active	1955–2013
Spouse(s)	Milton Brothers (1949–89; his death; 1 child)

Joyce Diane Brothers (née Bauer; October 20, 1927 – May 13, 2013) was an American psychologist, television personality and columnist, who wrote a daily newspaper advice column from 1960 to 2013. In 1955, she became the only woman ever to win the top prize on the American game show The $64,000 Question, answering questions on the topic of boxing, which was suggested as a stunt by the show's producers. In 1958, she presented a television show on which she dispensed psychological advice, pioneering the field. She wrote a column for Good Housekeeping for almost forty years and became, according to The Washington Post, the "face of American psychology". Brothers appeared in dozens of television roles, usually as herself, but from the 1970s onward she accepted roles portraying fictional characters, often self-parodies.

Radio therapist Laura Schlessinger credited Brothers with making psychology "accessible".

Joyce Diane Bauer was born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York, to Estelle (née Rapaport) and Morris K. Bauer, attorneys who shared a law practice. Her family was Jewish. She graduated from Far Rockaway High School in January 1944. She entered Cornell University, double majoring in home economics and psychology and was a member of Sigma Delta Tau sorority. She earned her Ph.D degree in psychology from Columbia University. The American Association of University Women AAUW awarded Brothers the American Fellowship in 1952, which enabled her to complete the doctoral degree.

She married Milton Brothers, an internist, in 1949. The couple had a daughter, Lisa. Milton Brothers died in 1989 from cancer. Brothers resided in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where she died in 2013, aged 85.