Rest in Peace, Ronald William Loewinsohn, 1937-2014

The Berkeley Daily Planet reports that Beat Poet and UC Berkeley Professor, Ronald Loewinsohn, passed away on October 14th. Born in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation in WWII, Loewinsohn's family relocated to San Francisco around 1945. His first collection of poems, Watermelons, featured an introduction by Allen Ginsberg and a prefatory letter by William Carlos Williams. More from Berkeley Daily Planet.

Ron Loewinsohn, well-known Bay Area writer and teacher, died in Berkeley on October 14 after a prolonged illness. Ron was a significant figure in the younger generation of San Francisco Renaissance poets, a group that included David Meltzer, Richard Brautigan, Joanne Kyger and others.

Ron published several volumes of poetry, two novels, articles and reviews over a career that spanned more than fifty years. He also distinguished himself as an academic, serving as a Professor of English at the University of California at Berkeley from 1970 to 2005.

Ron was born in Iloilo, Philippines in 1937, under the Japanese occupation during World War II. His family moved to the United States in 1945, settling in San Francisco some years later.

After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1955, he gravitated to North Beach where he met the literary circle affiliated with Jack Spicer and other writers who were to influence his own work.

Ron published his first collection of poetry, Watermelons, with an introduction by Allen Ginsberg and a prefatory letter by William Carlos WiIliams in 1959. Richard Brautigan and Ron co-edited and published the magazine Change in 1963, cementing a life-long friendship between the two writers. [...]

Rest in Peace, Friend! Learn more at Berkeley Daily Planet.