Famed San Francisco poet and activist Jack Hirschman dies

 Amanda Bartlett, SFGATE, Aug. 22, 2021,
Updated: Aug. 23, 2021 11:26 a.m. »»

Poet Jack Hirschman types in his apartment above Cafe Trieste in North Beach, Calif., Feb. 2, 2000. (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle, Chris Stewart). CHRIS STEWART/Associated Press

 Jack Hirschman, former San Francisco poet laureate, activist, and famed proponent of the Beat Generation, died at his home in the city on Sunday, said the organization in which he served as a co-founder and director. He was 87 years old.

Speaking on behalf of the World Poetry Movement, Ataol Behramoglu said the organization learned of Hirschman’s death just minutes before he was scheduled to speak in the last of their regular online interviews as the WPM coordinator board.

“[It] is a big shock to us close friends and fellow activists,” wrote Behramoglu. “It has been a great loss to American and world poetry.”

City Lights Books, Green Apple Books and many others in San Francisco expressed their tributes to Hirschman on Twitter upon hearing the news.

“Jack made regular visits to our store and publishing office before the pandemic, brightening our day with a joke or a story,” City lights tweeted. “His presence in North Beach will be missed so much. He was steadily reading poetry up until today at various virtual events. We love you, Jack.”

Born in New York City, Hirschman started out as a copy editor for the Associated Press and later taught at UCLA in the 1970s before he was fired for encouraging his students to resist the draft during the Vietnam War. He moved to North Beach shortly thereafter, where he wrote and published his first volume of poetry, A Correspondence of Americans, and was deeply involved in the literary scenes at Caffe Trieste and City Lights.

Hirschman served as an assistant editor for the left-wing literary journal, Left Curve, formed the Union of Left Writers of San Francisco, and in addition to his own extensive poetry, translated dozens of international works into English, notably, the poems of a young Joseph Stalin.

will miss Jack Hirschman's presence in the world. my condolences to his dear wife. https://t.co/VlybMoAFDp
    — Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) August 22, 2021

He was named as poet laureate in 2006 and created the San Francisco International Poetry Festival in the same year. Three years later, he became the poet in residence at the San Francisco Public Library.