--- description: His career spanned 50 years title: Pulitzer-Winning Poet Laureate Mark Strand Dead at 80 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt127660ba98c38083/69876b78cd684818840984c4/mark-strand.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Pulitzer-Winning Poet Laureate Mark Strand Dead at 80 by [Entertainment Weekly / Joshua Rivera](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Entertainment Weekly / Joshua Rivera Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2014 2:23 PM CUT  Portrait of US Poet Laureate Mark Strand in New York City in 2000. Portrait of US Poet Laureate Mark Strand in New York City in 2000.Chris Felver—Getty Images by [Entertainment Weekly / Joshua Rivera](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Entertainment Weekly / Joshua Rivera Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2014 2:23 PM CUT Pulitzer Prize-winning poet laureate Mark Strand died on Saturday. According to his daughter, Jessica Strand, the cause of death was liposarcoma, or cancer of the fat cells. He was 80 years old. According to [The New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/nyregion/mark-strand-80-dies-pulitzer-winning-poet-laureate.html?%5Fr=0 "undefined"), Strand died in his daughter’s Brooklyn home. Strand’s career spanned 50 years, with his first collection, _Sleeping With One Eye Open_, published in 1964\. He would be named poet laureate of the United States in 1990, and win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1999 for his collection _Blizzard of One_. In addition to his daughter, Strand is survived by his son, Thomas, his partner, Maricruz Bilbao, his siblings Judith Major and Tom, and a grandson. [_This article originally appeared at EW.com_](http://news-briefs.ew.com/2014/11/29/poet-laureate-mark-strand-dies-at-80/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3610776/poet-laureate-mark-strand-obit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3610776/poet-laureate-mark-strand-obit/"},"headline":"Pulitzer-Winning Poet Laureate Mark Strand Dead at 80","datePublished":"2014-11-30T14:23:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:27:10.162Z","description":"His career spanned 50 years","url":"https://time.com/3610776/poet-laureate-mark-strand-obit/","keywords":["Books","Poetry","Literature"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt127660ba98c38083/69876b78cd684818840984c4/mark-strand.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Entertainment Weekly / Joshua Rivera"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt127660ba98c38083/69876b78cd684818840984c4/mark-strand.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Portrait Of Mark Strand","caption":"Portrait Of Mark Strand","creditText":"Chris Felver—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3610776/poet-laureate-mark-strand-obit/","name":"Pulitzer-Winning Poet Laureate Mark Strand Dead at 80"}}]}] ```