Joyce Brothers , who pioneered the television advice show and was called the mother of media psychology , has died , her daughter said Monday . She was 85 . `` She passed away peacefully and in her home ... with her family all around her , '' Lisa Brothers Arbisser said . Brothers , whose charming , reassuring demeanor appealed to television audiences , became a television star as a game show contestant , a sports interviewer , then as a psychologist answering audience questions about relationships and other emotional subjects . She grew her fame as a frequent guest on television talk shows and as an advice columnist for Good Housekeeping magazine for four decades and for newspapers throughout the United States . She also made many cameo appearances parodying herself on television sitcoms and in movies . She once told a reporter , `` I do n't give advice . I just tell people , 'This is what we know . ' `` But give advice was what she did , and America listened : . `` Success is a state of mind . If you want success , start thinking of yourself as a success . '' `` The best proof of love is trust . '' `` Marriage is not just spiritual communion and passionate embraces ; marriage is also three meals a day , sharing the workload and remembering to carry out the trash . '' Dispensing advice on public airwaves did n't please all of her colleagues . Some members of the American Psychological Association asked early in her media career that her membership be revoked because they did n't think dispensing advice outside a one-on-one setting was appropriate . Media psychology became part of the organization 's structure in 1986 , according to the APA website . Born Joyce Diane Bauer , she married Milton Brothers in 1949 , according to a biography provided by her family . He died in 1989 . Brothers became a practicing psychologist in 1958 , five years after she got her master 's degree at Columbia University . By then , she had already caused a stir on television , winning the top prize on `` The $ 64,000 Question '' in 1955 . The topic : boxing . The family biography said she appeared on the show when her husband was in medical school and they were living with her parents . Her husband suggested she try out as a boxing expert , seeing that would make her an unusual contestant -- a woman versed in pugilism . When the show asked her to be on , she memorized the Encyclopedia of Boxing in a few weeks . She repeated her success two years later on `` The $ 64,000 Challenge , '' leading to a job on `` Sports Showcase . '' In 1958 , she was the host of a self-titled show on local television that became so popular , NBC syndicated the program nationally . Amid the quiz show scandal of the late 1950s , she demonstrated her well-versed knowledge of boxing to a congressional panel , her family biography said . Years later , she wrote books and had radio shows . And America saw her often on television , not only giving advice but making fun of herself . On one episode of the ABC smash hit `` Happy Days , '' she counseled Fonzie 's dog , Spunky . She made a vocal appearance on the animated series `` The Simpsons '' in the memorable `` Last Exit to Springfield '' episode . On an episode of `` Frasier , '' a show about one of TV 's famous fictional psychologists , she took Frasier Crane 's place in a commercial about nuts . Brothers also appeared on shows like `` The Love Boat '' playing a character , often a doctor . She is survived by her sister , Elaine Goldsmith ; her daughter ; four grandchildren ; and two great-grandchildren . The family did n't disclose the cause of her death , which happened in Fort Lee , New Jersey . Her funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York . People we lost in 2013 : The lives they lived .
Brothers once told a reporter that she did n't give advice , just facts . The funeral for Brothers , 1989 , will be 1989 ; her husband died in Tuesday . Joyce Brothers first became a national celebrity when she won a game show . A licensed psychologist , she appeared many times on TV talk shows .