Rick DelVecchio, SF Chronicle Staff Writer: Richard Carlson, a Bay Area psychotherapist who became the world-famous writer of “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” and 30 other motivational books stressing love, gratitude and kindness above all other values, collapsed and died Wednesday on a flight from San Francisco to New York.
Carlson, 45, lived in Walnut Creek and was scheduled to make two TV appearances to promote his latest book, “Don’t Get Scrooged: How to Thrive in a World Full of Obnoxious, Incompetent, Arrogant and Downright Mean-Spirited People.”
A family spokesman said he apparently died of cardiac arrest.
” ‘Don’t Get Scrooged’ was a book he’d been wanting to write for a long time,” said Susan Miller, Carlson’s executive assistant. “He felt like this one was really going to take off.”
Carlson was a popular motivational speaker, stress consultant and media figure dubbed one of the world’s foremost happiness experts. Associates on Friday recalled him as an unusually clear and giving teacher, listener and friend. Read the original article »