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Alan Lavine, MA ’73, author of the nation’s longest-running mutual fund column, is a bestselling nonfiction writer and syndicated newspaper financial columnist whose work ran in the Boston Herald for nearly 25 years. His book, “Rags to Riches: Motivating Stories of How Ordinary People Achieved Extraordinary Wealth,” was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show and topped Amazon, Associated Press, and United Press International best-seller lists. The book was dedicated to the late Dr. Robert Deitchman, a University of Akron associate professor whom Lavine served as a research assistant in the 1970s.

In all, Lavine has authored 15 books during his long career, including several co-authored with his wife, Gail Liberman, primarily on the topics of money and love. His book “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Making Money with Mutual Funds” went through three editions and sold more than 150,000 copies, and Reuters called his book “Love, Marriage and Money” a classic in marital finances. Lavine has discussed his books on a number of television and radio programs, including Fox & Friends, CBS Early Show, PBS, Good Day New York, WGN, CNN, CNBC, NBC, and CBS.

Lavine’s career includes research on population density and stress that was published in the American Journal of Zoology and Psychological Reports, as well as research on the distribution of income and home energy costs that was published in New England Energy Reports and cited by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress in establishing energy policy in the 1980s. He has presented papers at annual meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, the Massachusetts Psychological Association, and a Symposium at the University of Illinois; and he has been a guest lecturer at Cornell University.

Lavine earned a master’s degree in psychology from UA and did post-graduate work in finance and economics at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., where he was co-editor and co-publisher of “The Little Apple,” a local literary magazine, and won a state poetry award. After graduation, Lavine worked in forensic psychology and later as a director of research for an investment advisory service before becoming a financial columnist for the Boston Herald in 1982.

Lavine often credits Dr. Deitchman for helping to launch his career and since 1999 has expressed his gratitude with gifts to The Dr. Robert Deitchman Memorial Scholarship Fund at UA.

Lavine and his wife reside in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.