Ron Schreiber

Dear Friends,

Ron Schreiber, co-founder and co-editor of Hanging Loose Press, poet, anthologist, and gay activist, died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last night. He was seventy years old. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer.

Ron's long history in small press began with the co-founding of Things, a letterpress journal that published from 1963 to 1966. When Things went broke, it was succeeded that same year by Hanging Loose, an inexpensive mimeograph production with unbound pages in a cover envelope. The magazine has published regularly ever since. When the press turned to book publication, in 1972, its first title was Ron's first collection, Living Space. Other titles followed from such presses as Calamus Books and Alice James Books (of which he was a co-founder, but active only in an advisory role afterward). His last book, John, was published by Hanging Loose. Ron edited the influential 31 New American Poets and co-edited many anthologies from HL.

A native of Ohio, Ron was a graduate of Wesleyan University and earned his doctorate at Columbia. He was an original faculty member of the University of Massachusetts Boston when it opened in the late Sixties, rising to full professor and serving a term as chair of the English Department before his retirement a few years ago. He was proud to have been a very early advocate for and practitioner of the teaching of gay literature.

Ron's taste, knowledge and frequently unpredictable enthusiasms were major contributions to Hanging Loose Press's long life He often shunned more public roles to concentrate on less glamorous, but absolutely crucial, administrative and editorial tasks. The press will continue as before and Ron's legacy will be evident.

He is survived by his stepson, Juan Rios.

Robert Hershon
Dick Lourie
Mark Pawlak