Dr. James C. Dobson departed for his eternal home following a brief illness, the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute (JDFI) announced Thursday. Through his books, radio program, and nationwide ministry, Dobson influenced generations of Christian parents, urging them to raise their children according to God’s timeless principles, instead of the corrosive licentiousness of the culture.

Dobson was most widely known for founding Focus on the Family in 1977, amid a spike in divorce rates and a culture that generally took a permissive view towards parenting. Trained as a child psychologist, with a doctorate from the University of Southern California, Dobson not only proclaimed what the Bible taught about marriage and parenting, but he also explained how it fit seamlessly with the best available science. He later launched JDFI in 2010 to continue his broadcast and teaching ministry.

Dobson wrote more than 70 books, including “Dare to Discipline” and “Bringing up Boys,” issuing a clarion call for Christian parents to eschew worldly parenting strategies and take what the Bible said about parenting seriously. For decades, he hosted a daily radio program that offered advice and encouragement to families in all sorts of situations. At its peak, his radio program aired on more than 4,000 stations in North America and was translated into 27 languages for distribution in 160 countries.

While public policy was not Dobson’s primary focus, his work on preserving and strengthening families inevitably informed politics in the midst of rising divorce rates and shifting cultural perspectives on child-rearing. Recognizing the need for a public policy organization dedicated to a biblical view of the family, Dobson played an influential role in starting Family Research Council in 1983.

Dobson’s motivation began when he was invited to a White House conference on the family, hosted by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. “Everybody else that spoke there came from a very liberal point of view,” Dobson recalled in 2023. “Afterward, James Guy Tucker, who was the director of the White House conferences, came up to see me, and he said, ‘I want to tell you something. People like you who have professional degrees and have come from a different point of view … those people do not come to this city.’” When Dobson relayed this to a group of friends, he continued, “we all agreed we have to change that. The voice of biblical truth as related to the family must be represented in this town.”

FRC’s founding president, Jerry Regier, talked about the impact Dobson had on his life throughout the decades on Thursday’s “Washington Watch.” “I remember making that phone call in 1979 to a person I didn’t know at the time and just had a wonderful conversation with him. He then came to Washington and really helped put some wheels on the vision that I had shared with him for FRC. I can’t say enough about the way that he has mentored me. And even after I left FRC, he continued to write personal notes and was just such an encouraging, encouraging person — in addition to him being the megaphone for the family for generations.”

Reflecting on Dobson’s legacy, Regier said, “He was so passionate about strengthening the family, about re-energizing the institution of marriage, about pro-life causes.” And yet, he not only influenced those causes but “many young leaders like myself, who then went on to have large organizations themselves. And he gladly and readily shared that stage.”

In 2007, Dobson received FRC’s Vision and Leadership Award. “With integrity and ingenuity, Dr. James Dobson has brought to public policy a new focus on the timelessness of family,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. “On his broad shoulders and in his heart of passion, he has carried an unmatched devotion to the sanctity of human life, the sacredness of marriage, the dignity of men and women, the nurturing of children, and the good of nations.”

For his tireless work to preserve the family, Dobson earned the enmity of organizations like The New York Times. In their slanted obituary, the Times presented Dobson as a divisive figure “who waged war on homosexuality and championed ‘family values’ in a long crusade” and “who denounced the ‘wickedness’ of abortion and same-sex marriage.”

Those who knew Dobson personally focused less on his political influence — though he did advise five presidents from both parties — and more on his personal faith and integrity. “As one of the handful of people who got to work with him in the studio at Focus on the Family, this is a major loss. Not just for the world, but for me personally,” remarked Dave Salkeld, who worked for Dobson at Focus on the Family as a senior recording engineer, and who is now FRC’s director of Audio Visual and Production Services. “Who he was on the biggest stage is who he was during the every day. He was one of one.”

“Few people have had the positive, Christ-honoring impact on the family as Dr. Jim Dobson; his legacy will be lasting,” reflected Perkins. “My parents used his instructions to shape our home as a family of new Christians, and I then had the privilege of working alongside him to protect marriage and family after he was a part of bringing me to FRC 22 years ago this week.”

“In every sphere in which he engaged — as an author, psychologist, teacher, policy expert, and national leader — he served the cause of Christ and proclaimed God’s faithfulness to His people. He brought to public policy a new focus on the timelessness of family,” he continued.

“Dr. Dobson will be greatly missed. But, like other influential Christian leaders of his era, he raised up many more in his wake,” Perkins concluded. “Dr. Dobson fought the good fight of faith, finished the course, and kept the faith. He leaves a legacy for his own family and millions of families worldwide. Well done.”