In a Tuesday, March 11, 2008 photo, Christian evangelical leader and founder of "Focus on the Family", James Dobson, listens to President Bush, not pictured, address the National Religious Broadcasters 2008 Convention at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, file)2025-08-21T13:49:53Z COLORADO SPRINGS, Co. (AP) Dr. James Dobson, a politically influential child psychologist who started a radio show counseling Christians on how to be good parents, founded the conservative ministry Focus on the Family and was long a campaigner against abortion and gay rights, died on Thursday. He was 89.His death was confirmed by the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.Dobson founded Focus on the Family in 1977, which had more than 1,000 employees at its peak and gave Dobson a platform to weigh in on legislation, advise White House panels and advocate against laws to ban conversion therapy to cure gay people.He served on President Donald Trump s Evangelical Executive Advisory Board.Dobson left Focus on the Family in 2010 and founded the institute that bears his name and continued with the Family Talk radio show, which is nationally syndicated and is carried by 1,500 radio outlets with more than half a million listeners weekly, according to the institute. Dr. Dobsons impact endures through the many lives he touched, the families he strengthened, and the unshakable faith he proclaimed, his family said in a statement announcing his death. Born in 1936 in Shreveport, Louisiana, Dobson is survived by his wife of 64 years, Shirley, as well as their children, Danae and Ryan, daughter-in-law Laura, and two grandchildren, his familys statement said.