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BORN
1935
DIED
2019
Morty Sklar Obituary
Iowa City - Morty Sklar (83) passed away on December 26, 2018 in the arms of his wife, Marcela Bruno, in the MJHS Home Hospice Hospital near his home in Jackson Heights, NY. He was born November 28, 1935 in Queens. Arrangements have been made for cremation and a private service.
Morty lived in Iowa City from 1971 to 1989 where he worked as a bus driver, received a BA in English from the University of Iowa (1983) and founded The Spirit That Moves Us Press, which gained a national reputation.
He published the first issue of his magazine, The Spirit That Moves Us, in 1975 and followed it with numerous books anthologies, including The Actualist Anthology (1977), Editor's Choice #1-3, Nuke Rebuke, Men & Women Together and Alone, Patchwork of Dreams, Cross-Fertilization, The Casting of Bells by Jaroslav Seifert (who won the Nobel Prize in literature the following year), How in the Morning by Chuck Miller, and a book of his own poetry, The Smell of Life: Poems 1969-1985.
Morty was a US Army veteran (1954-56) and was one of the first residents and graduates of Phoenix House, a therapeutic community rehab facility in NYC. He received the first Phoenix House Alumnus of the Year Award in 2008 for introducing poetry to Phoenix House.
A detailed biography can be found in the book The Ultimate Actualist Convention: A Detailed View of Iowa City Actualism in the 1970s & 1980s and Its Migration to the San Francisco Bay Area, edited by Morty Sklar, Cinda Kornblum & Dave Morice, published in 2016.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
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4 Entries
Billy Howell-Sinnard
May 1, 2020
Morty was very kind to me eventhough he wouldn't publish any of my poems. He was right not to publish them. I was just beginning to write back then. He was honest and devoted to his work.
Billy
Tim Wahl
July 12, 2019
I'll never forgot Morty Sclar, whom I knew for just one semester at the University of Iowa. He was a fine poet. What I admired about him--and also feared--was his truth-telling. He taught me some lessons about myself in one short session that have lasted with me a lifetime. Rest in Peace Morty.
January 24, 2019
very sad news - Morty was a mensch and more...
Marian Janssen
January 9, 2019
Although I met Morty only once--when I interviewed him for my biography about Isabella Gardner, a poet-mentor he loved--I'll always remember how kind he was.
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