Howard Nemerov; Poet Won Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Howard Nemerov, who served two years as poet laureate of the United States, has died of cancer. He was 71.

Nemerov died Friday night at his home, said Washington University vice chancellor Fred Volkmann. Nemerov was poet laureate from 1988 to 1990, then returned to Washington University, where he had taught since 1969.

Nemerov’s poetry ranged from the profound to the poignant to the comic. Among his 26 books were five novels. He won a Pulitzer and the National Book Award in 1978 for his “Collected Works.”

As poet laureate, Nemerov wrote verses commemorating the 200th anniversary of Congress and the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. He was the third man to hold the position, which was established by Congress in 1985. He followed Robert Penn Warren and Richard Wilbur.

In 1987, Nemerov was one of 10 Americans awarded the National Medal of the Arts.

Among his collections are “Image and the Law,” “Guide to the Ruins,” “Mirrors and Windows” and “War Stories.”

Nemerov’s 1957 novel “The Homecoming Game” was made into the movie “Tall Story,” starring Anthony Perkins as a basketball player and Jane Fonda as his girlfriend.

Nemerov was a writer of variety and wit, and a master of self-deprecating comment. He once said Harvard University, where he went to school, turned him into “Howie, the boy intellectual.”

A private man who lived quietly with his wife, Peggy, Nemerov never went out of his way to seek the spotlight.

“If you’re a word-slinger for a living, teaching and writing, when you get to be alone you like it to be quiet,” he once said.

Nemerov grew up in New York City, the son of a prosperous businessman. He graduated from Harvard in 1941 and immediately joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. As a Canadian and later an American pilot, he flew more than 100 combat missions in World War II.

After the war, Nemerov taught at Hamilton College, Bennington College, the University of Minnesota, Hollins College and Brandeis University before joining Washington University.

He is survived by his wife and three sons, Alex, David and Jeremy.