A Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and longtime English professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst has died. James Tate was 71.The university says Tate died Wednesday after a long illness.
Tate is a native of Kansas City, Missouri. His Selected Poems was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1992.
Tate also received many other honors, including the National Book Award for Worshipful Company of Fletchers in 1994.
The university says Tate taught in the Master of Fine Arts program for poets and writers since 1971. He was married to poet and English professor Dara Wier.
UMass-Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy calls Tate one of the most distinguished members of the school's faculty.
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