Gerald Stern, prize-winning and lyrical US poet, dies at 97

Stern, one of America's most loved and respected poets who wrote with spirited melancholy and earthly humour about his childhood, Judaism, mortality and the wonders of the contemplative life, has died. He was 97. Photo: AP

Gerald Stern, one of the United State’s most loved and respected poets who wrote with spirited melancholy and earthly humour 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 on Thursday at Calvary Hospice in New York City, according to his longtime partner, Anne Marie Macari. A statement from Macari, released on Saturday by publisher WW Norton, didn't include the cause of death.