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Family or close associates of Levine could not be reached,
but The New York Times reported that Levine died on Saturday at
his home. Levine was a professor emeritus at California State
University in Fresno, California.
The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Levine grew up in Detroit,
worked at an auto factory at age 14 and was known for writing
about America’s working class, according to a Poetry Foundation
biography. He championed blue collar and other workers and gave
them a voice in his poetry, according to the foundation, which
publishes Poetry magazine.
Levine was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for his collection
of poems called "The Simple Truth." He won two national book
awards, one for "Ashes: Poems New & Old" in 1980 and the other
for "What Work Is" in 1991.
In 2011, the Library of Congress named Levine U.S. poet laureate
for a two-year period. In 2013, he won the Wallace Stevens Award
for proven mastery of poetry by the Academy of American Poets,
according to the foundation.
(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City; Editing by Frances
Kerry)
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