Syracuse University alumna Irma Kalish, who wrote for some of television’s biggest shows of all time, is dead at age 96.
The pioneering sitcom writer and producer died of complications from pneumonia Friday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, according to Deadline. Her family confirmed her death Monday to The Hollywood Reporter.
Kalish was one of TV’s first female producers and wrote for shows with her husband and writing partner, Austin “Rocky” Kalish, for seven decades until his death in 2016 at age 95. They got their start on “The Martin & Lewis Show,” a radio program starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, before transitioning to small screen classics like “Good Times,” “All in the Family,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Maude,” “My Three Sons,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “Too Close for Comfort” and “My Favorite Martian.”
According to Variety, Irma Kalish’s solo credits included writing for Valerie Harper on “Valerie” and “The Hogan Family,” plus Madeline Kahn on “Oh Madeline.” She also penned episodes of “227,” “The Facts of Life,” and co-wrote an episode of Disney’s “The Famous Jett Jackson.”
Kalish was an industry trailblazer, becoming an executive producer for shows like “Good Times,” “The Facts of Life,” “Too Close for Comfort,” “227,” and “Valerie.” She also was an active member of the Writers Guild of America West, served as a board member and vice president, was an early president of Women in Film, and received honors like the WGA’s Valentine Davies Award and Syracuse University’s George Arents Pioneer Award.
Born Irma May Ginsberg in New York in 1924, she graduated from SU in the 1940s and married Austin Kalish in 1948. In an interview with the Archive of American Television, she spoke about taking a writing class at Syracuse and being told she would never become a writer, which motivated her to prove her professor wrong.
“That inspired me,” she recalled. “I’m going to show him that I will become a writer... I did.”
Survivors include her sister, Harriet Alef; a son, comedy writer Bruce Kalish; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Variety reports the family has requested donations be made in Kalish’s name to the Motion Picture and Television Fund; plans for a memorial service are in the works.
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