Thank You, Geoff Rich: Dr. Laura Pays Tribute to Our Friend, Leader and Creative Force

Summary

The Dr. Laura Podcast Episode: Thank You, Geoff Rich: Dr. Laura Pays Tribute to Our Friend, Leader and Creative Force Date: March 17, 2026 Host: Dr. Laura Schlessinger

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Episode Overview

In this heartfelt episode, Dr. Laura departs from her usual call-in advice format to pay tribute to her dearest friend, business partner, and foundational creative force, Jeff Rich, who recently passed away. She reflects on their remarkable 30-plus-year partnership, shares memorable and instructive stories about Jeff’s influence on her life and the radio program, and celebrates the kind of person Jeff was—thoughtful, loyal, and genuinely kind. Dr. Laura weaves together anecdotes, behind-the-scenes moments, and emotional reflections in a tone that is warm, candid, and ultimately grateful.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Remembering Jeff Rich and His Passing

• How She Learned the News: Dr. Laura shares the circumstances of Jeff’s peaceful passing—dressed up, attending the theater with his wife Connie, supporting a friend’s play, and dying in a way that was, in her and others’ eyes, poetic and fitting for him. (02:00)

  • "If he could write the end point to his life, he would have written it this way... His was poetic." — Dr. Laura (03:18)

• Emotional Journey: Initially feeling angry and upset, Dr. Laura is comforted by her son and colleague Cecilia, who both immediately see the beauty in how Jeff’s life ended.

  • "He couldn't have written it better... and I went from angry, you know, to peaceful. If he has to be gone, this was the way." — Dr. Laura (03:48)

The Origin of Dr. Laura & Jeff Rich’s Partnership (04:10–09:15)

• Their First Meeting: Dr. Laura details the unusual way Jeff came into her life—originally intending to politely decline syndicating her show, he flew 3,000 miles to Los Angeles just to have the decency to say “no” in person. His politeness was almost unparalleled in the industry.

  • "What, he came 3,000 miles to be polite? Who does that? ...But that was his soul. He was such a good soul. Never wanted to go out of his way to be mean, unpleasant, thoughtless. He was unique." — Dr. Laura (06:26)

• Turning Point: At their first meeting, unexpectedly, Dr. Laura asks him how many stations he has for her; Jeff, caught off guard but in the moment, shows her two inquiry slips from stations ready to syndicate. That moment changes everything, and a decades-long partnership is born.

  • "He said to himself, this is a force that cannot be ignored. And that was it. We started. That was over 30 years ago." — Dr. Laura (09:01)

• Jeff’s Loyalty & Integrity: Dr. Laura expounds on Jeff’s loyalty and goodness throughout every challenge and triumph over decades.

  • "The most loyal person in my entire life. No matter what happened, he stood by me." — Dr. Laura (09:29)

Classic Radio Stories: Humor, Bravery, and The “P Word” (12:39–19:19)

• Behind-the-Scenes Anecdotes: Dr. Laura plays a previously unaired tape (from ~2014) where she and Jeff reminisce about the early, sometimes controversial days of her national syndication.

  • They tell stories about stations’ nervousness around Dr. Laura’s clinical and candid approach to topics like sex education, including the now-famous “penis” and “vagina” discussions, and the resistance from station managers—especially the story about WJR Detroit and the “strike one” phone call.

• Notable Quote from Jeff:

  • "You know, it's amazing to me how many men just freak when they hear the word penis." — Jeff Rich (17:27)

• Riffing About Censorship and Authenticity: They laugh about the time Dr. Laura intentionally used the “P word” multiple times after the Dallas station manager asked her not to.

  • "That I would not cater to that kind of bizarre control." — Dr. Laura (19:00)

Daily Rituals and Deep Friendship (19:21–24:04)

• Daily 6AM Calls: Dr. Laura reveals that for more than 20 years, she and Jeff spoke every morning at 6:00 AM. The routine was both business and personal check-in, reflecting their deep mutual care.

  • "We talk seven days a week, every day at 6am Pacific time for about 10 minutes every day. We've done that for over 20 years." — Dr. Laura (19:21–19:29)

• Family-Like Bonds: Dr. Laura expresses genuine affection for Jeff’s daughter and recalls their plans to celebrate when she turned 18.

• Shared Intellectual Curiosity: Their conversations ranged from behind-the-scenes show details to discussions of history, books, and the weather’s impact on battles—showcasing Jeff’s eccentric intellectual passions.

  • "On a scale of 1 to 10, about 12 ... He was also a master at chess, played concert piano, also cello, but mostly piano." — Dr. Laura (20:29–21:17)

Jeff’s Uniqueness and Interpersonal Gifts (22:21–24:04)

• His Impact on Others: Dr. Laura describes Jeff as universally beloved, with rare abilities to be both gentle and firm, and an exceptional peacemaker.

• Their Complementary Dynamic: She jokes she was “the Brooklyn” to his sophisticated calm, and together they completed and improved each other—balancing edginess and diplomacy.

• Her Gratefulness: Dr. Laura consciously focuses on gratitude over grief, feeling tremendously lucky for the decades of partnership and friendship.

  • "I am so freaking lucky that I can't spend my time whining and crying... I remember: lucky, lucky, lucky me. And that's where I want to place it." — Dr. Laura (24:04)

Looking Forward and Legacy (24:04–26:50)

• Finding Peace: Dr. Laura reflects on finding peace, sleeping well despite the loss, celebrating Jeff’s life, and encouraging listeners to appreciate important people in their own lives.

• Encouragement for Listeners: She invites callers to share or seek advice, but leaves this space open and comforting, modeling “putting things to bed” and seeking peace.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "If he could write the end point to his life, he would have written it this way... His was poetic." — Dr. Laura (03:18)
• "What, he came 3,000 miles to be polite? Who does that?" — Dr. Laura (06:26)
• "This is a force that cannot be ignored." — Jeff Rich, as recalled by Dr. Laura (09:02)
• "The most loyal person in my entire life. No matter what happened, he stood by me." — Dr. Laura (09:29)
• "You know, it's amazing to me how many men just freak when they hear the word penis." — Jeff Rich (17:27)
• "That I would not cater to that kind of bizarre control." — Dr. Laura (19:00)
• "We talk seven days a week, every day at 6am Pacific time for about 10 minutes every day. We've done that for over 20 years." — Dr. Laura (19:21–19:29)
• "He was so sweet and gentle and kind and... firm, but in the gentlest way." — Dr. Laura (22:21)
• "I am so freaking lucky that I can't spend my time whining and crying... I remember: lucky, lucky, lucky me. And that's where I want to place it." — Dr. Laura (24:04)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:00–03:48: How Jeff passed, the emotional processing, and the poetic nature of his passing
• 04:10–09:15: The story of how Dr. Laura and Jeff Rich began working together; early industry anecdotes
• 12:39–19:19: Humorous and instructive radio stories with Jeff Rich and others, behind-the-scenes of syndication, authenticity vs. censorship on air
• 19:21–24:04: Daily rituals, evidence of deep friendship, Jeff’s intellectual and personal passions, and his family
• 24:04–26:50: Reflections on gratitude, peace, and honoring Jeff’s legacy

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Conclusion

This episode is a poignant, funny, and ultimately joyous tribute to Jeff Rich—Dr. Laura’s irreplaceable friend and professional partner. Through stories and personal memories, listeners are invited into the heart of the show’s history and reminded of the impact one truly kind, loyal, and creative person can make. Dr. Laura models gratitude and resilience in the face of grief, leaving listeners with both laughter and a call to cherish those who shape our lives.

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Transcript

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[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

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[Jeff Rich]

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[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

well, here I am, Dr. Laura Schlesinger doing a little something different today. My dearest friend, person I have been closest to than anybody else in my whole life. He's also my business partner who's responsible for me having a syndicated radio program and

[Jeff Rich]

keeping my head above water all these years.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

Jeff Rich passed on Thursday night. That's the bad news part. Believe it or not. There's a good news part which I after talking to my son and Cecilia Cardenas, who was with him longer for

[Jeff Rich]

all his companies, she took care of all the money.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

She's known him longer.

[Jeff Rich]

The good news part is that he and his wife Connie, the love of

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

his life, got dressed up and went to the theater. If he could write the end point to his life, he would have written it this way. He went to the theater, enjoyed the play. It was produced by a dear friend of his, so he wanted to be supportive. They come out of the theater, she goes to the ladies room and in the theater he passed. Massive heart attack. So the bad news is he passed. The good news is he couldn't have written it better for him. All of us who love him were thinking about how would we write our last minutes. His was poetic. Now I was spending a lot of time being angry and upset until I called my son to tell him what had happened because they were very close. He was like a surrogate dad, uncle to my son. And I told him what happened. And the first thing he said to me, he couldn't have written it better. Then I spoke to Cecilia, she said, he couldn't have written it better. And I went from angry, you know, too peaceful. If he has to be gone, this was the way.

[Jeff Rich]

Now I want to tell you how his relationship with me and mine with him started, because it's weird. By the way, he was born on

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

the same day, 10 years apart. I'm 10 years older.

[Jeff Rich]

That's part of this crazy story. So I'm on air locally in Los

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

Angeles on KFI AM640, more stimulating talk radio. And I'm like, noon to 3, 11 to 2, whatever, noon to 3 o', clock, I think.

[Jeff Rich]

And there are two guys who sell

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

commercial time for radio shows. That's how money is made.

[Jeff Rich]

So they kept calling him and saying, you've got to syndicate this woman.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

You've got to listen to her.

[Jeff Rich]

It is not nothing you've ever heard before, trust me.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

What does she do? Oh, she answers questions about problems.

[Jeff Rich]

Oh, people are doing, no, you haven't heard the way she does it.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

It's completely different.

[Jeff Rich]

So once a week they sent him

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

a tape of my show.

[Jeff Rich]

A couple of months go by, he

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

has never listened to one of them.

[Jeff Rich]

He's syndicating music. So they kept calling him and saying, well, well, well. And so he gave a few of the tapes to his assistant.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

She goes home, listens to them, comes back the next day and says, oh, my God,

[Jeff Rich]

I would never call her.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

I'd be too scared. But I couldn't stop listening. So he went, really? Okay, I don't want to do talk. I want to stay with music. Now, here's where you start learning about the man. He made an appointment to see me. He's in New York, I'm in Los angeles at KFI AM640. And he flies 3,000 miles to politely tell me, yeah, no, I'm sorry, I. No, I only do music. What, he came 3,000 miles to be polite? Who does that? Especially in this business or any business like this. You send an email, you say, not interested. Wish you well, great success, screw off, goodbye.

[Jeff Rich]

You know, not him, anybody he dealt with.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

Not just me, anybody he dealt with in the industry or personally. He was always incredibly thoughtful and polite. I thought sometimes past the point of reasonableness. But that was his soul. He was such a good soul. Never wanted to go out of his way to be mean, unpleasant, thoughtless he was unique. So I don't know that he's coming to tell me. No, I assume he's coming to start syndicating me, right? So I'm in the hall, my husband picks him up at the airport, hands him two messages. Two radio stations had called and said, are you ever going to syndicate her? Because if you do, we want her asap. She's amazing. Because, okay, so he has these two pieces of paper in his pocket. Just jam them into his pocket, you know, just to be polite. He's at one end of the long haul at kfi. I'm on the other end of this very long hall, and I go, are you Jeff Rich? And he says, yes. And I said, you know, I was being funny. I mean, we hadn't started syndication yet or anything.

[Jeff Rich]

And I said, so how many stations

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

do you have for me? And he just stopped in his shoes. Meanwhile, I don't know why he's really there. He pulls out two pieces of paper. He's still a long distance from me in the hall. Nobody else is in the hall. And he says, I got two. And I went, great start. Now it was years later that he told me the truth.

[Jeff Rich]

I didn't know for years that he

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

had come to kiss me off. The way he tells it is this

[Jeff Rich]

little person with an abundance of energy

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

is walking toward him, enthusiastic, spreading energy all over the hall, and he said to himself, this is a force that cannot be ignored. And that was it. We started. That was over 30 years ago. And he has been through every high and every low, every mistake I've made, every problem we had. The man never stopped being loyal. The most loyal person in my entire life. No matter what happened, he stood by me. And I him. He was an amazing fellow. And he and I have so many. We have so many stories, and I'm still here to tell a lot of them. So I'm going to play you a tape. Let me give you the context.

[Jeff Rich]

Somebody called. This was about a dozen years ago,

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

somebody called on the air and he was at the station. So somebody called on the air and I had to do penises and vaginas and explain all of that, right? And that was the context.

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[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

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[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

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[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

When I finished that call, I called him in to the studio and Dan, bless him, our VP General manager, found the tape. I'm going to play it for you right now.

[Jeff Rich]

I've got my dearest friend, my dearest personal long term I think Jeff Rich is probably the longest term friend I have in my life. We have been business partners and friends and we had a woman earlier on who was teaching her kid about sex but didn't want to talk about the father part. So I got her to say penis. Penis, penis, penis, penis. Yes, dear. Testicle, testicle, testicle. Which one ups history? So I thought I texted Jeff a moment ago because I thought the penis story that you have to tell is so classic and I want my audience to hear it because I've never told Them.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Oh, my goodness, Doc. Well, it is an honor to be on the air with you.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

Thank you.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

I don't think I've ever been on the air with you before.

[Jeff Rich]

No. In over two decades, never. This is your starring role.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

I hope. Tape is not running anywhere. But what can I say? You want me to tell the story?

[Jeff Rich]

I think KRLD is probably the story.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

KRLD is the story. This was about in 1994. It was about six months after we were first launching you across the nation. And we got you onto this great station in Dallas called krld. CBS station.

[Jeff Rich]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I got you on the wrong one. Detroit.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Oh, well, no, okay.

[Jeff Rich]

Don't you think that's a better one?

[Radio Industry Colleague]

You want the Mike Feazi story?

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

Yes, yes.

[Jeff Rich]

And I'm glad you said the name. Yes, that's the one I want.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Well, WJR Detroit, great classic station. And the general manager there was excited but nervous.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

Well, he took a big leap.

[Jeff Rich]

I think I was the first female mainstreamed on the station.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

I think you're the first female allowed on that station. That is correct. And I get a phone call from him one morning who said, strike one. I said, strike one. What are you talking about? He said, your host just described how to have sexual intercourse over the air.

[Jeff Rich]

I can't imagine who that was, but go ahead.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

And I said, oh my God. He said, you know. And I said, well, let me, let me, you know, I've got to hear the tape first before I say anything. And basically what had happened is he was driving in his car with his children. And you had on a caller who had a woman who was upset because her sister was having an affair with her husband. This was 20 years ago, right. And the woman said, I don't know how I should feel about this, Doc, I know you talk about feelings a lot on your radio show.

[Jeff Rich]

Go ahead.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

And she said, I don't know how I should feel about this. And you said, you don't know how you should feel about this? Your husband is putting his insert word here. Penis, tube, your sisters vagina. And you don't know how you feel. And so he said, strike one. And I, you know, you know, this was in front of my children. And he called me back about two hours later and said, oh, forget about it, I'm at the country club now. And everybody heard the call and they thought it was absolutely brilliant and great. But I thought you were, I thought you were going to ask me about the Jerry Bobo story because that was the word where you did say the P word several times.

[Jeff Rich]

Oh, that's because you called and told me I wasn't supposed to say it.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

That's correct.

[Jeff Rich]

And we all know how well I respond to that. Yeah. Tell that story.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Well, basically, you were going on in Dallas and the general manager called me and said that he was worried that Dr. Laura Schlesinger, debuting in Dallas in 1994, would be perceived as a liberal New York shrink. And he said, I know you. She uses the graphic terms, but she uses them in a clinical way. But if for one week, the first week, she could not use that word, I said, what word? P word.

[Jeff Rich]

You know, it's amazing to me how many men just freak when they hear the word penis. I'm sorry, you were. You were not even saying it.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

Go ahead.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

On that Monday, you had a research study. This was at a time when male enhancements were all the rage for some strange reason. And there was a study done by, I believe, ucla, measuring the man's penis at different states and not different states of the country.

[Jeff Rich]

States of attention.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Thank you. And you're. And so you led your show with that story and used the P word four or five times.

[Jeff Rich]

But you have to tell them why I read the story.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Well, because you were trying to tell men that.

[Jeff Rich]

No, because you warned me that he didn't want me to use the word.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Oh, I thought you actually wanted to tell a story.

[Jeff Rich]

And so when I found that medical piece that day by accident, I went, that's it?

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Yes. And after. After that was over, you called me up and I said, I did it enough for the week. Thank you. But it was a very important story because, you know, men were having operations done on themselves.

[Jeff Rich]

I know, but the point of it was that he said I couldn't say it. And I thought, you cannot do. You cannot. That I would not cater to that kind of bizarre control.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Absolutely.

[Jeff Rich]

Because I had the Dr. And MFCC weekends, so I felt it was okay. But I love those stories. They've never been told in public before. I thought you're the best to tell

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

them because you tell stories. Great.

[Jeff Rich]

So thank you for our over two decades together. Love you.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Love you too. Talk to you later.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

Bye.

[Jeff Rich]

Bye.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

Bye.

[Radio Industry Colleague]

Bye.

[Jeff Rich]

Yeah, Jeff and I talk seven days a week, every day at 6am Pacific time for about 10 minutes every day.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

We've done that for over 20 years.

[Jeff Rich]

Just every day we check up.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

How's this?

[Jeff Rich]

How's that? His daughter. I adore his daughter.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

When she becomes 18 in another year, I'm taking her. Taking her she's going to ride my motorcycle and we're going to do all kinds of weird things because she's growing up very proper in New York.

[Jeff Rich]

My number, 1-800-375-2872. So you got a little behind the scenes slice of my life.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

I'm sure you're not surprised. We'll be right back with your calls. Okay. That's the tape Dan found. And that was a dozen or so years ago. And to the day he passed, we talked in the morning about all sorts of things. The weirdest thing we ever talked about,

[Jeff Rich]

the absolute.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

What just shows you this guy was highly intellectual. On a scale of 1 to 10, about 12.

[Jeff Rich]

So we would say, what are you reading?

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

I'd say, what I was reading. And he goes, I'm reading this great book. You may want to read it. Oh, really?

[Jeff Rich]

What is it about?

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

Well, 1804 and how the weather in this particular part of Europe impacted history

[Jeff Rich]

all the way for today.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

And I said, you are seriously kidding me.

[Jeff Rich]

This is your relaxing reading. He said, so you should read the book.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

And thinking back, I should, because actually, that sounds very interesting because I know there are all kinds of battles in history that were won or lost because of weather, so it's not exactly so silly. But at the time, I was thinking of all the things to want to read about the weather in 1802. That's something, you know. And he was also a master at chess. He played concert piano, also cello, but mostly piano. Has a beautiful piano in his house. He played golf and he would be all excited to tell me, going out in the golf now or yesterday.

[Jeff Rich]

I did it, and I did all

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

18 holes, and it was 102 degrees. And I went, that's dumb. People get strokes and pass out, you

[Jeff Rich]

know,

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

you aren't going to stop him from doing the stuff. And he loved his family and he took care of everybody, and everybody thought of him as sort of a. Let me put it to you this. There's probably no end to the number of people I have pissed off. I guarantee you, nobody was ever pissed off at Jeff. He had people skills that were marvelous. And he was so sweet and gentle and kind and. And firm, but in the gentlest way. But he was firm. You were talking to him. You knew that. Well, that's it. Now you leave it right there. But it wasn't like I would do it. We used to laugh about, you know, I was Brooklyn, and he was some

[Jeff Rich]

incredibly sophisticated place, and together he calmed

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

me down over the years, and I think I got him to Be a little more edgy when it needed to be. There were times he'd be in negotiation with somebody. He'd come back and tell me, you know, you gotta lean on that. Yeah, you're right.

[Jeff Rich]

So we were that close.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

I'm gonna miss him terribly. Of course, one of the first things that crossed through my mind is not

[Jeff Rich]

going to talk to him at 6

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

o' clock in the morning anymore. A big loss that got translated into I had over 30 years of a

[Jeff Rich]

6am phone call with one of the greatest human beings ever.

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

So instead of being whiny or pissy or worried or sad or anything about what's not going to happen, what didn't happen this morning, I'm sort of caveling on how lucky, unbelievably lucky. I have been through most of my adult life to have Jeff Rich as my partner in radio here and as a personal friend, I am so freaking lucky that I can't spend my time whining and crying. I have tiny moments where I water up, suck it back in, because I remember lucky, lucky, lucky me. And that's where I want to place it. So I had two very good night's sleep, which I thought, oh, my God, I'm going to have to get somebody to give me a chemical to go to sleep here. Nope. I was at peace with it. And I like smiling and laughing. All of us here, all the peeps were zooming, talking about some funny stuff, some touching stuff. And everybody's putting together photographs and we're going to be putting them on our social media. I want you to look at all the crazy stuff because we just, we were like a crazy family, all of us doing stuff together, doing the shows together, everything. And he kept everybody all together, took care of everybody. He was always concerned about everybody. He was just remarkable. They make that once they throw it away. Can't make another out of that mold gone. There's not a person in the world who can say I was pissed off

[Jeff Rich]

with him, really, because, you know, because

[Dr. Laura Schlesinger]

I would say, no, it was probably me. You can talk to me about anything you need to talk about so that you have a little peace in your life. Yeah, let's get peace in our lives. Some things you have to put to bed. Give me a call at 1-800-DAMOR Laura. Any questions you have about anything you've heard so far or about your life. I'm just open today. Whatever, okay, whatever. Let's just talk about stuff. See, a little now and then. 1-800-375-2872.

[Jeff Rich]

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[Narrator/Promotional Voice]

The 2026 Chevy Equinox is more than an SUV. It's your Sunday tailgate and your parking lot snack bar. Your lucky jersey, your chairs and your big cooler fit perfectly in your even bigger cargo space. And when it's go time, your 11.3-inch diagonal touchscreen's got the playbook, the playlist, and the tech to stay a step ahead. It's more than an suv. It's your Equinox Chevrolet. Together, let's drive.