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John Maher (Delancey Street)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Maher (1940 – December 3, 1988)[1] was an American former child alcoholic and heroin addict, who founded the Delancey Street Foundation, a nonprofit organization, in 1971. The organization, based in San Francisco, provides residential rehabilitation services and vocational training for substance abusers and convicted criminals.
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As co-president of the organization from 1972 to 1984, Maher rose to national prominence as the subject of two books (John Maher of Delancey Street by Grover Sales and Sane Asylum; Inside the Delancey Street Foundation by Charles Hampden-Turner), a TV movie (1975's Delancey Street: The Crisis Within), and news media coverage (including a 1974 60 Minutes segment, "Love Thy Neighbor").[2][3] He was also active in San Francisco politics, helping to elect his younger brother, Bill Maher, to the San Francisco Board of Education, and later the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.[3]
In 1988, Maher died at the home of his mother, Marie Maher, in his native New York City after suffering from pneumonia. Mass was said at St. Gregory the Great Church.[4]