In Memoriam: Mark Perlberg, 1929–2008

Poet Mark Perlberg was a regular contributor to Prairie Schooner and other journals, including the New Yorker, Atlantic, Chicago Review, and the New York Times. As a reporter, he was sent to Chicago in 1956 by Time magazine to cover the arts, and there he and his wife Anna stayed until his death on June 23, 2008.

In 1968, Mr. Perlberg cofounded the Poetry Center of Chicago, now at the School of the Art Institute, and served as its president for thirteen years and as a longtime member of the board of directors. Mr. Perlberg also taught a poetry workshop at the Newberry Library. His own books of poems were The Burning Field, winner of the Robert L. Ferguson Memorial Award, The Feel of the Sun (Swallow/Ohio University Press), The Impossible Toystore (Louisiana State University Press) and, forthcoming, Waiting for the Alchemist (also LSU Press). He was a critic for the Chicago Daily News, where he reviewed books of poetry, novels, and plays, and he worked with Rose Kennedy on her memoirs. In addition, he was a writer and editor for the Encyclopedia Britannica, World Book, and Prism magazine.

Our long friendship with Mr. Perlberg included regular telephone calls and later, personal visits with Mark and Anna, most recently in the company of poet Jehanne Dubrow at the time of our reading from the Prairie Schooner Jewish American Portfolio, published in our Spring 2007 issue, at the Spertus Institute in Chicago.

Mark Perlberg was unfailingly courteous and generous. He will remain in our pages and long in our thoughts as a brilliant and brave participant in all human endeavors. Where he saw the necessity for change, he instigated change. We join his family and friends and the literary community in our grief at his absence.