Dr. Joyce Brothers dies in NYC at age 85

Dr. Joyce Brothers, who began her career in the 1950s by becoming the only woman ever to win the grand prize on "The $64,000 Question" game show and went on to become the nation's first television psychologist, died yesterday in New York at the age of 85, her publicist announced Monday.

Born Diane Bauer, Brothers was a graduate of Far Rockaway High School and an alumna of Cornell University.

An author, broadcaster, psychologist, newspaper columnist and accomplished polymath, Brothers called herself the inventor and "founding mother" of media psychology, a field that lead to shows for Drs. Drew and Phil. Her early T.V. shows broke ground on formerly taboo subjects and she was a strong advocate against gender bias in textbooks in the 1970s.