Dr. Felice Leonardo Buscaglia Ph.D. (31 March 1924 of
Italian descent – 11 June 1998) was a professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Southern California.
Published works
Leo Buscaglia authored a number of New York Times bestselling
inspirational books on love and human reticences on the subject,
including The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, Bus 9 to Paradise, Living Loving
and Learning, Love and My Father. In lectures he often protested, in outrage at the comparative absence of
writings on the subject, "I got the copyright for love!!!"
The Fall of Freddie the Leaf
The Fall of Freddie the Leaf is a short story by Leo Buscaglia aimed at helping adults
and children cope with fear of dying.
Freddy is a leaf. He dances in the Spring and basks lazily in Summer. In Autumn he develops a beautiful colour. In
Winter he falls from the tree but it doesn't hurt.[1]
A student's suicide
While teaching at USC, Buscaglia was moved by a student's suicide to contemplate human
disconnectedness and the meaning of life, and began a non-credit class he called Love 1A. His book and numerous recorded and
televised lectures, some of which became available through PBS, became
extremely well received. He argued that social bonds are essential at transcending the stresses of everyday life and enriching it
above the limitations of poverty as well as crossing communication gaps between generations.
Barriers to the expression of love
Buscaglia worked actively to overcome social and mental barriers that inhibited the expression of love between people, from
family to acquaintances to the disabled, institutionalized, and elderly, to complete strangers, often making his own forwardness
on the subject a topic of self-deprecating humor. The profundity of his subject, however, almost invariably struck a responsive
chord regarding an area many regarded as deficient in their lives, and by 1998 his books had reached eighteen million copies in
print in seventeen languages.
Death
Leo Buscaglia died of a heart attack on 11 June, 1998 at his
home in Glenbrook, Nevada, near Lake Tahoe. He was 74.
External links
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