Jeopardy! Writer Dorfman Dead at 48

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Steven Dorfman, senior writer on King World Productions’ Jeopardy!, died in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 4, after a battle with cancer. He was 48.

Dorfman had been with Jeopardy! since the show’s start in 1984, and he won six Emmy awards for outstanding writing. During the almost 20 years he wrote for the show, he penned more than 50,000 questions.

"For the past 20 years, Steven has been our most imaginative and prolific writer. The show will miss him greatly, and on a personal level, I will too," said Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.

"We are deeply saddened by Steven’s passing," said executive producer Harry Friedman. "He had a true passion for Jeopardy!. All of us on the staff were inspired by his inventive and original style."

Dorfman is survived by his parents Neil and Debbie Dorfman, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, two sisters and a grandmother.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.