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Poet Robert Creeley dead at 78

ODESSA, Texas, April 1 (UPI) -- Poet Robert White Creeley has died of pneumonia at an Odessa, Texas, hospital. He was 78.

Creeley, a long-time professor at the University of Buffalo, was remembered as a generous colleague and caring mentor, the Buffalo (N.Y.) News reported.

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"His place in American poetry is enormous," former UB colleague and poet Charles Bernstein said.

Creeley's poetry has been described as spare and direct. It earned him numerous awards and the position of poet laureate for the state of New York in 1989.

Creeley was a native of Arlington, Mass. He grew up in West Acton, where he lost an eye in a childhood accident.

Creeley, who befriended Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, originated the "Black Mountain" school of poetry.

After leaving UB, he lived in a converted firehouse in Black Rock. He was married three times and has nine children.

Burial is set for Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass. A public memorial is set for April 7 at UB.

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