Jerry Belson Dead at 68

Jerry Belson, whose dark wit helped propel popular comedies such as The Tracey Ullman Show, The Odd Couple and The Dick Van Dyke Show, died of cancer on October 10 in Los Angeles. The Emmy-winning writer was 68.

Belson and longtime writing partner Garry Marshall contributed to some of television’s most celebrated series and were regarded as the preeminent comedy writing team of the 1960s and early ‘70s.

Robert Edelstein

Rob has written for Broadcasting+Cable since 2006, starting with his work on the magazine’s award-winning 75th-anniversary issue. He was born a few blocks away from Yankee Stadium … so of course he’s published three books on NASCAR, most notably, Full Throttle: The Life and Fast Times of NASCAR Legend Curtis Turner. He’s currently the special projects editor at TV Guide Magazine. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post and his origami art has been in The Wall Street Journal. He lives with his family in New Jersey and is writing a novel about the Wild West.