Transformers legend Ron Friedman needs your help

Please help legendary TV writer Ron Friedman with his medical bills and moving expenses.

Why are Ron's friends running this fundraiser?

Ron and Val, his wife of 51 years, need help. Ill health and the mounting bills that follow mean they need to move urgently to a less expensive rental near the hospital on which they both rely for their care. We are seeking funds that will go directly to Ron and Val to pay for their move and cover their rent, bills and living expenses for a few months, so that they can focus on their ongoing treatment and recovery. The $48,000 we are seeking breaks down into $28,000 for their medical bills and the balance would cover the cost of relocation, rent, and living expenses for a few months. We would be so grateful if you would consider helping.

From Jared Egol, Ron’s friend and former student:

Dear fans of timeless television spanning the past fifty years, fans of TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE cartoons from the past forty years, and fans of loving, tireless fathers and teachers from any time you can remember.

I need to talk to you about someone dear to me, who is all those things and more, whom you probably love without knowing it, and who would love you if he knew you.

Ron Friedman wrote for nearly every TV show imaginable between the 60s and 80s (STARSKY & HUTCH, HAPPY DAYS, THE FALL GUY, CHARLIE’S ANGELS to name a few) then became the first animation writer hired from live action to create TRANSFORMERS and GI:JOE cartoons, before going on to teach everything he knows to students at USC and Chapman.

As a Frank Lloyd Wright-trained architect prior to breaking into Hollywood writing for Danny Kaye, and, before that, turning down a full scholarship to MIT so he could stay close to family at Carnegie Tech (Mellon), Ron Friedman has the unique privilege of being the smartest and kindest man in both every room he’s been in and every room he’s designed.

Many of his students, myself included, call him a father figure, because this brilliant teacher would do things like tirelessly looking into pain medications that might help a student he barely knew (me) while maintaining a full course load.

And if any of the TRANSFORMERS or GI:JOE characters were fatherly when you needed them to be, then so did you.

Now, Ron no longer teaches and writes only because he wants to, but because he has to pay for his prostate cancer and chronic pain treatments, as well as basic living expenses no longer covered by his WGA pension. Val has been in poor health for a number of years, limiting her ability to work and contribute.

Ron has given so much joy and entertainment, wisdom and thrills to generations of film and TV fans. Please consider helping Ron and Val in this difficult period of their lives.