John Maher (Delancey Street)

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.

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").

[4] Maher was originally from the Bronx, New York, and he dropped out of school in the eighth grade.

[5] This United States biographical article is a stub.