Finding Happy by Peter Samuelson; Regalo Press; © 2025; ISBN 9798888-458716; 365 pages; $19.99; Publication date: June 10.
SAN DIEGO – Peter Samuelson is a movie producer who worked his way up from an 18-year-old French-English interpreter on the Steve McQueen movie Le Mans to production manager on Peter Sellers’ Return of the Pink Panther and on to full-fledged producer of more than 25 films.
But he will be remembered as the compassionate nonprofit entrepreneur whose efforts benefitted terminally ill pediatric patients, foster kids, homeless people, and college students.
The 52 chapters in Finding Happy combine autobiographical material with advice aimed at teenagers. Chapter titles include “Why Do Bullies Bully? What Can You Do About It?”; “What Is Love For, Actually? And Where Can You Find it?” and “What Must You Do When People You Love Lose Their Compass?”
Along the way, he tells back stories about the films Arlington Road; Wilde; The Gathering; Stormbreaker; and Foster Boy. He also shares how he started such nonprofit organizations as Starlight Children’s Foundation with Steven Spielberg; Starbright World that cyber-linked seriously ill teenagers; First Star, organized to support foster youth through high school and college; EDAR (Everyone Deserves a Roof), for which he invented a wheeled carrier for personal goods that converts into a private sleeping tent; and ASPIRE, which teaches undergraduates in non-film-making disciplines how to make movies.
Samuelson, who is Jewish, discusses the philosophy of the sage Maimonides. An outspoken liberal, he criticizes the policies of President Donald Trump of the United States and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
After each chapter comes a thoughtful section titled “Chapter Takeaways and Reflection Questions for You.” If readers are inspired to meditate seriously upon these questions, then at the rate of one chapter per week, Samuelson’s book could inspire a year’s worth of reflections.
The Jewish message of tikkun olam, repair of the world, persistently comes through.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.