Sherwood Charles Schwartz (November 14, 1916 – July 12, 2011) was an American comedy writer and television producer.
Schwartz began his entertainment career writing jokes for the Bob Hope radio show as a way to earn money while studying for his master's degree in biology. He eventually joined the show's writing staff full-time, and also wrote for The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and the Armed Forces Radio Network prior to making the jump to television.
He created two of America's best-remembered half-hour sitcoms, Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch, as well as the not-so-well-remembered It's About Time. Each of Schwartz's series opened with an Expository Theme Tune, and each had a relatively large ensemble of Flat Characters who passed the Idiot Ball around from week to week.
Though neither was a big hit in its original network run, Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch have lived on in reruns (and, in the case of The Brady Bunch, multiple spin-offs, revivals, and reimaginings) to become permanent fixtures in pop culture.
Schwartz was married to Mildred Seidman and had four children. He died in 2011 at the age of 94.
