Minneota author William "Bill" Holm died Wednesday at the Avera Heart Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., Rehkamp-Horvath Funeral Directors said Thursday.
Holm won the prestigious McKnight Distinguished Artist Award in May. The award is sponsored by the McKnight Foundation and includes a $50,000 stipend.
Holm taught for 27 years in the English department and Southwest Minnesota State University. He retired during the 2007-2008 school year.
Friends and collegues likened Holm to authors Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman and Mark Twain for his sense of place and his moral stances including his ingdination with injustice.
"I'm just so heartsick," Holm's friend and former editor Emilie Buchwald said.
Holm's death comes just as he had more time to write in retirement, Buchwald said.
"I think he will be recognized as one of the most important writers to come out of this part of the country," Buchwald said.
Holm has written at least 10 books of essays and poetry including "Boxelder Bug Variations," "Coming Home Crazy," and the "Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere On Earth."
A sense of place was important to Holm, said Milkweed Editions Publisher Daniel Slager. Milkweed published many of Holm's books
As did Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, Holm wrote of his places, Slager said.
Holm wrote "as if someone were talking to you," Slager said. "That is often attempted but rarely accomplished."
Holm is also often associated with his love of music and his skill at the piano.
Daniel Rieppel, a music professor who performed occasionally with Holm as part of a duet called "Big Guys with a Grand Piano" said, "Although Bill had many dear friends, he was my dearest friend."
While Holm wrote his works, it was often Sandy Mosch, a long-time SMSU administrative assistant in the English department, who typed them because Holm did not use a computer.
Mosch said she typed Holm's books and poems for many years.
"He wrote them in longhand," she said.
"Bill was a moralist," in the vein of Twain, Buchwald said. "People don't mind being scolded if they are scolded by someone who does it very well."
Services are pending with the funeral home.