Wayne Dyer

Biography

Wayne Walter Dyer (May 10, 1940 – August 29, 2015) was an American self-help author and motivational speaker. Dyer completed an Ed.D. in guidance and counseling at Wayne State University in 1970.

Early in his career, he worked as a high school guidance counselor and went on to run a successful private therapy practice. He became a popular professor of counselor education at St. John's University, where he was approached by a literary agent to put his ideas into book form.

The result was his first book, Your Erroneous Zones (1976), one of the best-selling books of all time, with an estimated 100 million copies sold. This launched Dyer's career as a motivational speaker and self-help author, during which he published 20 more best-selling books and produced a number of popular specials for PBS.

Influenced by thinkers such as Abraham Maslow and Albert Ellis, Dyer's early work focused on psychological themes such as motivation, self-actualization, and assertiveness. By the 1990s, the focus of his work had shifted to spirituality.

Inspired by Swami Muktananda and New Thought,[citation needed] he promoted themes such as the "power of intention," collaborated with alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra on a number of projects, and was a frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Chapter 7, "Never Place Loyalty to Institutions and Things Above Loyalty to Yourself," included “Strategies for eliminating institutional victimization.”

Dyer was married three times. With his first wife, Judy, he had a daughter. With his second wife, Susan Casselman, he had no children. With his third wife, Marcelene, he had five children and two stepchildren from Marcelene's prior marriage.

Wayne and Marcelene legally separated in 2001, after 20 years of marriage. After their separation period, they reunited and remained married until his death.

Dyer died from a heart attack in Maui, Hawaii, on August 30, 2015, at age 75. He had been diagnosed with leukemia in 2009.