Television producer Robert H(arris) Justman died 28 May 2008 of complications from Parkinson’s disease. Born 13 July 1926, his lasting legacy will be as a producer and one of the creative forces behind Star Trek. The announcement of his death, by his son Jonathan, comes within days of those of two other Star Trek notables: director Joseph Pevney and composer Alexander Courage. “There seems to be a big Star Trek convention and everyone is going,” Jonathan Justman said. “Everyone is getting beamed up.”
Justman was an associate producer, technical consultant, and then a co-producer of the original series from its beginning in 1966 until 1969, when NBC canceled the series. He was involved in all facets of production, and played a part in casting, set design, and props, as well as story lines and scripts. “It wasn’t just a science fiction show; it was a morality play,” Justman said in a 2001 interview in the Christian Science Monitor. “It was, ‘Do the right thing and do right by your fellow man, and all will be well, hopefully.'”
When Star Trek: The Next Generation came along two decades later, creator Gene Roddenberry tried to bring back as much of the original production team as possible, which included Justman. He was a supervising producer for the first 17 episodes, and then a consulting producer for 8 more.
Rick Berman, who eventually took Roddenberry’s mantle after his death, told The Los Angeles Times, “I can’t tell you how nurturing this guy [Justman] was to me. He was like a mentor and a father. He was extraordinary.” Justman was involved in set design, model making, visual effects, and character and script development for the 1987 debut. But Berman said his biggest contribution was championing the casting of Patrick Stewart, who became one of the most popular characters of the new series. “Roddenberry was very against the idea of a bald British actor playing the next Captain Kirk,” Berman said. “But Bob was very persistent, and Patrick became Captain Picard.”
Justman’s father was a success in the produce business in New York and California, and then decided to go into the movie business, so he bought a studio in Los Angeles. Justman, who was a Navy radio operator during World War II, attended UCLA for two years and worked in his father’s produce operation. In 1950, he made the jump to the other family business, the Motion Picture Center studio (which later became part of Desilu Studios). He worked his way up from production assistant to assistant director to associate producer on many feature films and television episodes.
Justman’s non-Star Trek genre credits include work on: Man from Atlantis (1977), Planet Earth (1974), The Outer Limits (1963-65), The Unknown, (1964), The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959), Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (1959), Adventures of Superman (1953-58), and Red Planet Mars (1952).
In 1996, Justman co-wrote, with Herbert F. Solow, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. Solow was the Desilu executive in charge of production of the series.
In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife of 51 years, Jacqueline; a daughter, Jennifer; another son, William; two sisters, Estelle Osborne and Jill Roach; a brother, Anthony; and five grandchildren.