26 | MAY 23 • 2024 
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pon touching down back in 
Detroit from Florida after the 
holidays, I turned on my cell 
phone to find an exciting invitation. I had 
received a message from Michele Loud, 
writer and editorial producer of Jeopardy! 
No, I wasn’t being recruited 
to be a contestant on the 
world-renowned game show 
— how cool would that 
have been, though! Rather, 
it was an invitation to the 
Jeopardy! Honors Ceremony 
in Los Angeles in February.
My late uncle, Steven 
Dorfman, was to be 
inducted into the Jeopardy! Hall of Fame 
following in the footsteps of TV greats 
Alex Trebek, Johnny Gilbert and Merv 
Griffin. Michele hoped that some of our 
family members could come to the event 
at Sony Studios to accept the award on 
Steven’s behalf. Of course, our answer was 
a resounding yes.
Steven Edward Dorfman was born 
on Oct. 24, 1955, in Detroit to my 
grandparents, Debby and Neil Dorfman. 

Growing up, Steven was an enthusiast 
of trivia, game shows and word games. 
In high school, his passion for radio 
call-in contests won him hundreds of 
prizes, including two motorcycles, record 
collections, cash, a trip to New York City, 
and concert tickets to Tom Jones, the 
Osmonds and the Beatles. Funny enough, 
he used very few of the prizes; for Steven, 
it was all about knowing the answers and 
beating the buzzer. 

The day after graduating from Wayne 
State University, Steven packed his car 
(won from a radio contest) and drove 
straight to Los Angeles, determined to 
find a job on a TV game show. After eight 
years of applying to various TV-related 
jobs and finding work where he could, 
his luck changed. While working as a 
cashier at Hamburger Hamlet, a popular 
restaurant among L.A. creative types, 
a customer said he heard they were 
bringing Jeopardy! back and were looking 
for writers.
In 1983, Steven Dorfman was hired 
by Alex Trebek to be the first writer on 
the newly syndicated Jeopardy! He spent 

20 years doing what he loved — writing 
clues that are still being used today. With 
more than 50,000 clues to his credit, his 
impact on the show is tremendous. 
Steven was much more than just a 
writer. He took it upon himself to grow 
the reference library and, as computers 
started to become popular, he brought 
the Jeopardy! team online. His quirky 
sense of humor and thirst for knowledge 
led him to create fascinating categories 
such as “Wacky Roman Emperors” and 
for food terminology, “Turn Around, I’m 
Dressing.” He often threw in ties to home, 
including nods to Wayne State University 
and ham radio, a hobby shared with his 
parents.
At the time of Steven’s untimely passing 
at the young age of 48, he was the show’s 
head writer and longest serving writer. 
The loss was enormous not only for our 
family, but for his Jeopardy! family, as 
well. Some of Steven’s co-writers came 
to Detroit for the funeral, and Alex 
Trebek gave a beautiful eulogy in Steven’s 
memory. Years later, the Jeopardy! library 
at Sony Studio was dedicated in his 

Samantha 
Foon
Contributing 
Writer

OUR COMMUNITY

Who was Metro Detroit native Steven Dorfman?
A Jeopardy! Legend

Steven 
Dorfman

Taylor Sher, Randee Sher, Benjamin 
Mitchell, Lisa Mitchell, Samantha 
Foon, Billy Wisse, Ken Jennings