Frank O’Hara, MA’51

A 1951 Hopwood Award winner, O’Hara published his first volume of poetry, “A City of Winter, and Other Poems,” a year after graduating from U-M. Eventually became a leading figure at the New York School, an informal group of artists, writers, and musicians. At the New York School, O’Hara’s close association with painters Larry Rivers, Jackson Pollock, and Jasper Johns became a source of inspiration for his poetry, including the creation of “poem-paintings.” Some notable work includes “Meditations in an Emergency” and “Lunch Poems.” O’Hara died in 1966 in an accident while vacationing.