Literature
Wayne Dyer
1940–2015 · self-help author, motivational speaker, psychologist
Best-selling self-help author of Your Erroneous Zones who spent part of his childhood in an east-side Detroit orphanage and earned three degrees at Wayne State.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Maui, Hawaii
aged 75- Birth name
- Wayne Walter Dyer
- Also known as
- Father of Motivation
- Detroit years
- 1940–1970
- Field
- Literature
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Dyer was born in Detroit and, after his father walked out, spent much of his first ten years in an orphanage and foster homes on the city's east side while his mother struggled to raise three boys. He graduated from Denby High School, served in the U.S. Navy from 1958 to 1962, and then returned to Detroit to study at Wayne State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree, a master's in psychology and, in 1970, a doctorate in guidance and counseling. He worked as a high school guidance counselor in Detroit before moving to New York to teach at St. John's University. His first book, Your Erroneous Zones (1976), became a huge bestseller and launched four decades of books, lectures and PBS specials.
Highlights
- Your Erroneous Zones (1976) launched his career as a best-selling author
- More than 20 further bestsellers and many PBS pledge-drive specials
- Bachelor's, master's and Ed.D. (1970) from Wayne State University
- Graduated from Detroit's Denby High School
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1950s
Denby High School
The east-side public high school he graduated from before joining the Navy.
Studied here · 1960s–1970
Wayne State University
He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees here.