Quote of the Week – David Viscott

“To love and to be loved is to feel the warmth of the sun from two directions.”

David Viscott (1938 – 1996)

A Dorchester native, Viscott graduated from Dartmouth College, trained in psychiatry at Tufts Medical School, and taught at University Hospital in Boston. He had a successful practice and began writing books, but left his first wife after 17 years, and four children, and moved to Los Angeles to pursue Katherine Random, whom he later married. In California he began a radio program taking calls and dispensing advice live on air, then a novel practice. His combination of gently eliciting the details of callers problems and then giving tough-love advice garnered him huge audiences.  His newfound fame allowed him to charge $1500 an hour, and he claimed he could cure anyone in just four sessions. His need for adulation was his ultimate downfall. He became estranged from his wife and children, and died alone at age 58 from heart disease and complications of diabetes.