Alan McGinnis, 71; Minister, Author of Self-Help Books

Alan Loy McGinnis, a clergyman, counselor, motivational speaker and best-selling author of self-help books including “The Friendship Factor,” has died. He was 71.

McGinnis died Sunday at his Glendale home of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

A native of Friendswood, Texas, McGinnis spent 20 years ministering to Presbyterian congregations in Illinois, New Jersey and California, including the Grandview Presbyterian Church in Glendale and the Brentwood Presbyterian Church.

He became a counselor more than 30 years ago -- and co-founding co-director of the Valley Counseling Center in Glendale -- when he became dissatisfied with the quality of therapists to whom he referred parishioners.

And he started researching friendship, which led to his first book, “The Friendship Factor,” after his 20-year first marriage to Lottie Denton, now of Portland, Ore., ended in divorce.

“After that experience I wanted to learn about love,” McGinnis told the Washington Post in 1979. “I found that the basic principles of friendship were at work in all intimate relationships: children, mate, parents.”

In his book, McGinnis described his “friendship factor” as the quality to draw the admiration and affection of friends. To cultivate friendship with someone, he advised people to praise, touch, listen, reveal one’s feelings and schedule regular conversations.

That initial book, and others to follow including “The Romance Factor,” “Bringing Out the Best in People,” “Confidence,” “The Power of Optimism” and “The Balanced Life,” were written in a Christian context but were not exclusively religious in their approach.

“I was tempted to write without mention of my religious belief so that it would sell better,” McGinnis said in 1979 of “The Friendship Factor,” which contains sayings attributed to everyone from Jesus to Babe Ruth. “But I couldn’t do it, since I feel basically that love comes from God.”

Although McGinnis did not object to having his own works described as “self-help” books, he disparaged most books of the genre as overly simplistic and unrealistic.

Asked why, for example, he disliked advocating the “power of positive thinking,” McGinnis told USA Today in 1990: “Because it teaches that anything the mind can believe it can achieve.... And it just isn’t true that our potential is completely unlimited.”

The former preacher, a popular guest on radio and television talk shows, also lectured widely as a motivational speaker for Merrill Lynch, IBM, Metropolitan Life, CIGNA, General Motors, Pacific Telephone and the Marine Corps.

McGinnis was formally educated in theology, psychology and counseling, earning degrees from Wheaton College, Princeton Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary and Columbia University.

He is survived by his second wife, Diane, to whom he was married for 31 years; four children, Alan, Scott, Sharon and Donna; and four grandchildren.

A celebration of McGinnis’ life is scheduled at 2 p.m. Saturday at Grandview Presbyterian Church, 1130 Ruberta Ave., Glendale.

The family has asked that, instead of flowers, memorial donations be made to Trinity Care Hospice, c/o the Hospice Foundation, 2601 Airport Drive Suite 230, Torrance, CA 90909-6193.