Jerry Bobrow, 59; started test-preparation business, wrote guides

Jerry Bobrow, who founded a business aimed at preparing students for standardized tests and wrote dozens of best-selling test preparation guides, died Monday at his Bell Canyon home after a two-year struggle with cancer, said Michael Jeser, a family friend. He was 59.

As executive director of Bobrow Test Preparation Services, based in Woodland Hills, he developed courses for those studying for the SAT, the California Basic Educational Skills Test, the Law School Admission Test and other standardized exams. His books included numerous titles for the Cliffs Test Prep series.

Born in Rome on Dec. 4, 1947, to Jewish parents who had survived the Holocaust, Bobrow moved with his family to California as a child and grew up in Fontana.

He earned his bachelor’s degree at Whittier College and was a pitcher on the school’s baseball team.

While studying for his master’s degree in math at what is now Cal State Northridge, Bobrow began tutoring other students, which led to the formation of his business. He later received a doctorate from California Western University.

He also stayed active in sports, helping to organize teenage athletes competing in the Jewish Community Centers’ North American Maccabi Youth Games, an amateur competition held every two years. He was chairman of the Los Angeles chapter’s Maccabi Organizing Committee from 1989 to 1993, when he was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in recognition of his service.

Bobrow also served on the boards of the New JCC at Milken in West Hills and the Jewish Community Centers Assn.

He is survived by his wife, Susan; three children, Jennifer, Adam and Jonathan; parents, Abram and Julia Bobrow; and brothers, William and David.

A funeral is planned for noon today at Groman Eden Mortuary in Mission Hills.