Leo Buscaglia

Leo Buscaglia at the Miami Book Fair International, 1987

Felice Leonardo "Leo" Buscaglia, Ph.D. (31 March 1924 – 12 June 1998)...also known as "Dr Love"... was an author and motivational speaker, and a professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Southern California. He was a graduate of Theodore Roosevelt High School (Los Angeles). After Navy service in World War II, Buscaglia entered the University of Southern California, where he earned three degrees before joining the faculty. Upon retirement, Buscaglia was named Professor at Large, one of only two such designations on campus at that time.

He gained fame on the USC campus through his non-credit course titled "Love 1A," which became the basis for his first book, titled simply LOVE. His dynamic speaking style was discovered by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and his televised lectures earned great popularity in the 1980s. At one point his talks, always shown during fund raising periods, were the top earners of all PBS programs. This national exposure, coupled with the heartfelt storytelling style of his books, helped make all of his titles national Best Sellers; five were once on the New York Times Best Sellers List simultaneously.

Published works

Leo Buscaglia authored a number of New York Times bestselling inspirational books on love and human reticence, 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 Buscaglia aimed at helping adults and children cope with fear of dying. It relates the life story of a leaf as an allegory for the life cycle of people.

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. His public lecture audiences, which numbered in the thousands, nearly always spontaneously formed a line after his talks in order to get books signed, and most importantly, to hug this outgoing speaker.

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 people with disabilities, the 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 for many in an area frequently regarded as deficient in their lives, and by 1998 his books had reached eighteen million copies in print in seventeen languages.

Death

Buscaglia died of a heart attack on 12 June 1998^[1] at his home in Glenbrook, Nevada, near Lake Tahoe. He was 74.

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Leo Buscaglia

• Leo Buscaglia and Felice Foundation official site.
• Selected Moments of the 20th Century: 1969 Leo Buscaglia teaches Love 1A at the University of Southern California
• Buscaglia at The "My Hero" Project
• Interview & "Love Quiz"
• "Learn the Joy of the Moment" by Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D.
• "Loving Through Death" by Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D.
• Obituary at USC Alumni News
• DVDs of Leo Buscaglia Public Television programs with Leo Buscaglia available