Gerald Stern, Prize-Winning and Lyrical Poet, Dies at 97

Gerald Stern, Prize-Winning and Lyrical Poet, Dies at 97
Gerald Stern speaks to the audience during the National Book Awards in New York on Nov. 18, 1998. Osamu Honda/AP Photo
The Associated Press
Updated:

NEW YORK—Gerald Stern, one of the country’s most loved and respected poets who wrote with spirited melancholy and earthly humor about his childhood, Judaism, mortality and the wonders of the contemplative life, has died. He was 97.

Stern, New Jersey’s first poet laureate, died Thursday at Calvary Hospice in New York City, according to his longtime partner, Anne Marie Macari. A statement from Macari, released Saturday by publisher WW Norton, didn’t include the cause of death.