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Utah Poet Laureate Ken Brewer, whose warm, witty poems explored everything from Utah's landscape to his own terminal illness, died Wednesday night of pancreatic cancer. He was 64.

Brewer died peacefully at his Providence home in Cache Valley with his wife, Roberta "Bobbie" Stearman, at his side, according to family friend Star Coulbrooke. Witnesses heard Brewer's beloved schnauzer Gus howl once, a single cry, when the poet took his last breath.

Brewer taught writing, poetry and literature at Utah State University for 32 years before retiring in 2001. After Gov. Mike Leavitt named him Utah's second poet laureate in 2003, succeeding his close friend David Lee, Brewer read his poems at schools, libraries and senior centers around the state.

But Brewer may be best known for the graceful way he handled his cancer diagnosis, which he received last June after nearly collapsing at a writers' conference. Instead of retreating into a shell, he shared his condition with family, friends and former students by opening his home to visitors and writing disarmingly candid e-mail updates about the disease's progress.

"He was a consummate teacher to the end," said friend and Salt Lake City bookseller Ken Sanders, who hosted many readings by Brewer at his stores. "His decision last summer to go public with his condition - I think that took a lot of courage. He taught everybody how to die with dignity."

In a burst of clear-eyed creativity, Brewer wrote dozens of poems about his looming death. One compared his failing body's rumblings to the cries of whales for the ones they love. Another recounted his fear of falling asleep and never waking up. More recently, he wrote a farewell poem for his wife that ended, "Oh, love, I will stay in your heart/and whenever you speak my name/I will live and live and live."

His example inspired hundreds of cards, calls and e-mails from former students, colleagues and strangers from around the country. It also led CBS News to send a reporter and camera crew to Utah for a segment on Brewer that aired in December.

"He got the kind of recognition and acclaim at the end that he deserved all along," said Jeff Smitten, chairman of the USU English Department, who credited Brewer for building Utah State's creative-writing program and attracting guest lecturers to Logan.

"He really was a vital contributor to the campus' cultural and artistic life," said Smitten, who believes Brewer's creative legacy will endure. "He left quite a good body of work. People will teach his poems."

Born Kenneth Wayne Brewer in Indianapolis a week before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he earned an undergraduate diploma from Western New Mexico University and a master's in English literature from New Mexico State before taking the USU job. Later he commuted from Logan to graduate seminars at the University of Utah, where he earned a doctorate in 1973.

In Brewer's 32 years at USU he taught everything from freshman composition to poetry and essay writing. He was popular with his students, who described him as generous with his time and gentle in his criticisms.

Brewer published nine volumes of his poems, which are notable for their earnestness and accessibility. In his books, he favors loosely connected poems that, when read together, tell a larger narrative. At least two more books of his poetry will be issued posthumously, including Whale Song: A Poet's Journey Into Cancer, which Sanders will publish this spring.

A memorial service for Brewer's close friends and family will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church in Logan. A larger memorial service is tentatively scheduled for April 29 at 2 p.m. on the USU campus.

Utah State University has established a student creative-writing scholarship in Brewer's name. To donate, contact the http://english.usu.edu/">USU English Department at 435-797-2733.

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