CALIFORNIA—David Richardson, the producer of popular television shows like “The Simpsons,” “F Is For Family,” “What About Joan,” “The John Larroquette Show,” “Malcolm in the Middle” and “Two and a Half Men” passed away of heart failure at the age of 65 on January 18 in Sherman Oaks.
Deadline magazine interviewed Michael Price, who was Richardson’s co-worker on “F Is For Family” and is the television show’s current executive producer and showrunner. Price told the magazine when he initially met Richardson, “I first met David in 2000 when he was my boss on What About Joan, and I never forgot how great he was as a writer, a showrunner, and a friend. When I had the chance to become a showrunner myself on F Is For Family, he was the first person I called to add to the staff. From day one of the show, he was my right hand — always pitching great jokes, masterful with a story, and just a great, great guy. His fingerprints are on every frame of our show, and his loss is immeasurable to me.”
The Bay Net recently interviewed another co-worker of Richardson, Bill Burr, who also worked with Richardson. “David Richardson was the funniest, darkest, most hilarious mind in the room. Sweetheart of a man. An incredible father and husband too,” Burr told The Bay Net.
Richardson’s producing and writing career extended over 30 years and earned him an award in 1995 called the Humanitas Prize for an episode that he wrote for The John Larroquette Show in the “30 Minute Category.”
“What the Nobel Prize is to literature and the Pulitzer Prize is to journalism, the Humanitas Prize has become for American television,” Barbara Walters once told The National Catholic Reporter.
Richardson’s obituary on Legacy.com indicates that his first job was scooping ice cream at Mary Coyle’s Ol’ Fashioned Ice Cream in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. “David loved Phoenix and the long-time friends and family he had there,” Richardson’s obituary states.
Richardson is survived by his wife, Charleen Easton-Richardson, their three sons, and extended family.
