Peter Oresick ( ; September 8, 1955 – September 3, 2016) was an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. Oresick was best known as the editor of '' Working Classics'', a literary

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

poetry, and as a publisher. He served in senior positions in literary,

scholarly The scholarly method or scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars and academics to make their claims about their subjects of expertise as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly pu ...

, and technical publishing from 1981 to 2004 at the

University of Pittsburgh Press The University of Pittsburgh Press is a scholarly publishing house and a major American university press, part of the University of Pittsburgh. The university and the press are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The press ...

, the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, and

Printing Industries of America The Printing Industries of America was a nonprofit trade association that advocates for the United States printing industry. It was the world’s largest graphic arts trade association, representing more than 6,500 member companies and an industry ...

. In 2010, he became editor-in-chief of the literary magazine '' The Fourth River''. Oresick earned his

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

and M.F.A. at the University of Pittsburgh. He taught at

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...

, the

Tepper School of Business The Tepper School of Business is the business school of Carnegie Mellon University. It is located in the university's campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The school offers degrees from the undergraduate through doctoral levels, in addition to ...

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Chatham University Chatham University is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally founded as a women's college, it began enrolling men in undergraduate programs in 2015. It enrolls about 2,110 students, including 1,002 undergraduate students and ...

, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Oresick resided in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. He died on 3 September 2016 at the age of 60 from cancer.Obituary: Peter Oresick / Prolific poet, publisher, printer, painter
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Published works

Poetry

* ''Iconoscope: New and Selected Poems'', poetry (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015). * ''To a Museum Guard at Shift Change'', poetry (Chicago: West North Press, 2012). * '' Warhol-o-rama'', poetry (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2008). * '' For a Living: The Poetry of Work'', (co-editor with Nicholas Coles), poetry anthology (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1995). * ''Fermi Buffalo'', by Louise McNeil (posthumously), (editor), poetry (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994). * '' The Pittsburgh Book of Contemporary American Poetry'', (co-editor with Ed Ochester), poetry anthology (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993). * ''Despite the Plainness of Day: Love Poems'', by David Ignatow, (co-editor with Anthony Petrosky), poetry (Pittsburgh: Mill Hunk Books, 1991). * '' Working Classics: Poems on Industrial Life'', (co-editor with Nicholas Coles), poetry anthology (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990). * ''Definitions'', poetry (Albuquerque: West End Press, 1990). * ''An American Peace'', (Foreword by Gerald Stern) poetry (Minneapolis: Shadow Press USA, 1985) * ''Other Lives'', poetry (Easthampton: Adastra Press, 1985). * ''The Story of Glass'', poetry (Cambridge: West End Press, 1977).

Sources

*''Contemporary Authors Online''. The Gale Group, 2006. PEN (Permanent Entry Number): 0000074923.

References

External links

Interview with Oresick about Andy Warhol
in '' Pop City'' Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Oresick, Peter 1955 births 2016 deaths People from Armstrong County, Pennsylvania People from Ford City, Pennsylvania American male poets Writers from Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh alumni Carnegie Mellon University faculty Chatham University faculty Emerson College faculty University of Pittsburgh faculty