Topic: Leo Buscaglia

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.

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.

Buscaglia gained fame on the USC campus through his non-credit course, "Love 1A," which became the basis for his first book, titled simply LOVE. Buscaglia'ss 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-raisers -- 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.