Liam Rector, 57; widely published poet directed seminar at Bennington

Liam Rector, 57, a well-regarded poet whose work appeared in the Paris Review, Ploughshares, the New Republic and other leading publications, died August 15 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his New York City apartment.

His wife, Tree Swenson, president and executive director of the Academy of American Poets, told the New York Times that her husband left a note expressing distress over his health. He had been treated for cancer and heart trouble in the past.

Rector published three volumes of poetry: “The Sorrow of Architecture,” (1984), “American Prodigal” (1994) and “The Executive Director of the Fallen World.” (2006).

He founded the graduate Writing Seminars at Bennington College in 1994 and was the director of the programs at the time of his death. He had also taught at Columbia University, George Mason University and Emerson College.

Born Ronald Edward Rector in Washington, D.C., Rector took the name Liam as an adult. He earned a master’s degree at the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University and a master’s in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He was awarded fellowships in poetry from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.