A founder of the Screen Writers Guild, which became the Writers Guild
of America.
He died from complications from open heart surgery in Los Angeles, CA. He had an operation in March 2005. He was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.
He helped establish the Screen Writers Guild, reorganized it into the
Writers Guild of America in 1954 and negotiated with studios for the
guild's right to determine film writing credits.
He began his professional writing career while attending Brooklyn
College. He wrote short stories for the New Yorker and the Saturday
Evening Post. Eventually he became a studio staff writer at MGM.