Buscaglia (pronounced Bus-KAL-yuh) died at his home on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

Known as "Dr. Hug," he shook up the University of Southern California in the '70s when he started classes on love, including "Love 101," combining sociology and psychology. His first book, "Love," came out in 1972 and examined the phenomenon of human love as the one unifying force in life.

PBS used his taped lectures during fund-raising drives.

"I've spoken in every state in the union, meeting and hugging the people who later bought my books," he said in 1986. "I spoke to anybody who wanted to hear me, including 1,000 nuns who could pay me only with homemade bread."

Buscaglia wrote more than a dozen books and sold more than 11 million copies in 20 languages. Among them were "Loving Each Other" and "Living, Loving and Learning." At one time, five of his books appeared on the New York Times best-seller list. His most recent book was "Love Cookbook" in 1994.

Another of his books, "The Fall of Freddie the Leaf," was made into a ballet that explored the delicate balance between life and death.

Buscaglia got his start as a supervisor of special education in the Pasadena schools from 1960 to 1965, and was an education professor at USC from 1975 to 1984.