Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and a prominent evangelical leader, died Aug. 21, 2025, at his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was 89.
A clinical psychologist by training, Dobson rose to national influence in the late 1970s as a leading voice on marriage, parenting and traditional family values within American evangelical Christianity. Born April 21, 1936, in Shreveport, Louisiana, he founded Focus on the Family in California in 1977. The organization grew rapidly, and by the 1980s and 1990s his daily radio programs aired on more than 4,000 stations across North America and were translated into 27 languages.
Focus on the Family relocated its headquarters to Colorado Springs in 1991 and continued advocating for marriage, parenting, religious liberty and opposition to abortion. Dobson wrote more than 70 books, including the bestselling The New Dare to Discipline, and frequently cautioned against cultural trends he viewed as eroding traditional family structures. He supported efforts to reduce teen pregnancy and promote abstinence education.
After stepping down from Focus on the Family leadership in 2010, he established the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute to carry on his work. Dobson advised multiple U.S. presidents, including George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, and served on Trump’s Evangelical Executive Advisory Board.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Shirley, their two children and two grandchildren.
