Lewis Yablonsky (November 23, 1924 – January 29, 2014) was an American sociologist, criminologist, author, and psychotherapist best known for his innovative and experiential work with gang members as well as with the counterculture of the 1960s.

[2] While he engaged in street gambling and other forms of juvenile delinquency in high school, he was also a standout athlete and received a baseball scholarship to the University of Alabama.

[1][3][2] While still in graduate school, Yablonsky began to work with gang members in the Morningside Heights section of New York City, instilling in him a lifelong fascination which became part of his research agenda.

[2] Yablonsky often became close to the subjects of his research, and this was especially true with his work on the counter-culture, when he began to smoke marijuana and experimented with LSD, despite his aversion to drugs.

[1][2] The New York Times wrote that early in his career he had become “a prominent and provocative public intellectual in the 1960s, combining academic analysis, experiential research and sometimes direct, unconventional efforts to solve social problems.”[2] Yablonsky died in Santa Monica, California on January 29, 2014.