Leo Buscaglia

Leo Buscaglia
Leo Buscaglia at the Miami Book Fair International, 1987
Born	March 31, 1924(1924-03-31) Los Angeles, California, USA
Died	June 12, 1998(1998-06-12) (aged 74) Glenbrook, Nevada, USA
Occupation	Motivational speaker, writer, professor
Alma mater	University of Southern California

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.

Biography

Felice Leonardo Buscaglia was born in Los Angeles, CA on March 31, 1924 into a family of Italian immigrants. He spent his early childhood in Aosta, Italy, before going back to the United States for education. 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 (BA 1950; MA 1954; PhD 1963) 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.

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 to 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 June 12, 1998 at his home in Glenbrook, Nevada, near Lake Tahoe. He was 74.

References

• George Carpetto (ed.), Italian Americans of the Twentieth Century (Tampa: Loggia Press, 1999), pp. 56–57.

Bibliography

1. Loving Each Other -year of publishing: 1984
2. Living,Loving,Learning -year of publishing : 1985
3. Personhood -year of publishing: 1986
4. Bus 9 to Paradise -year of publishing : 1987
5. The Way of the Bull -year of publishing: 1973
6. Love -year of publishing :1972

External links

• 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