By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – His family called him The Miracle Man.”

In 2001, teacher Daniel Shapiro fought off the cancer that attacked his liver, enduring radiation and chemotherapy before returning to the classroom.

“He beat it,” said Patrick O’Neill, principal of Lewiston High School. “He went into remission.”

But in fall 2004, the cancer returned. On Friday morning, he died. He was 53.

“It was very sudden,” O’Neill said.

Neither the faculty nor students knew how sick Shapiro had become. As recently as the holidays, he’d smile and tell people how good he felt.

Then, as always, he’d ask how the other person felt. He knew no other way.

“He could have been a good politician,” teacher Tom LaBlond said. “But he’d never want to attract attention to himself.”

In his own gentle way, Shapiro left his mark on a generation of students. He taught English here for 20 years.

Early Monday morning, O’Neill notified the faculty of Shapiro’s death. A few minutes later, he made a schoolwide announcement. Counselors set up grieving stations, where both students and teachers were encouraged to write down their thoughts of the man they missed.

“His spirit will be here forever,” O’Neill said.

After all, Shapiro’s journey began here.

He grew up in Lewiston, graduating from Lewiston High in 1969. He then went to Boston, where he majored in English at Northeastern University. After receiving his degree, Shapiro returned to his hometown and went to work at his alma mater.

For junior Jonathan LaChance, Shapiro was one of a kind. “He was the best teacher I ever had,” LaChance said Monday.

Shapiro introduced LaChance and his classmates to literature and composition as freshmen.

“He made Shakespeare as understandable as he could be,” LaChance said. And when the teacher worked on writing, he was both critical and nurturing. “He taught you how much you could improve,” LaChance said.

The closeness continued outside the classroom.

“He taught a lot of life lessons,” said LaChance, now tall and athletic. “He and I would just talk and talk.”

When LaChance had troubles at home, he went to Shapiro. “He was more of a friend than a teacher.”

Teachers also remembered Shapiro as a friend.

“I worked with him for just two years, but he became my best friend in the school,” said Doreen St. Laurent, who worked closely with Shapiro.

She could go to him with a problem or a question. Many teachers did.

Teacher Robert Townshend talked of his friend’s love of film and his athleticism. Principal O’Neill marveled at Shapiro’s ease with his classes and the way he drew the focus of every student. Teacher Jim Siragusa talked of the admiration Shapiro earned from students and his love of music.

Monday morning, he was reminded of the music.

Siragusa had begun listening to an old CD his friend had given to him. When the first song, the old Irving Berlin standard “Cheek to Cheek,” started, he shivered.

“It was like he was talking to me,” Siragusa said.

“Heaven, I’m in heaven,” the song began. “And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak /And I seem to find the happiness I seek.”

The story drew nods of appreciation from Shapiro’s colleagues. Somehow, they knew he was at ease.

Many had attended his funeral Sunday. The procession stretched through Auburn for nearly a mile.

“People will miss him more than they think they will,” teacher Michael Beaulieu said.

Beaulieu had taught Shapiro here in the 1960s.

“There was greatness in him,” the teacher said. “Even though I was older and once taught him, I looked up to him.”

Shapiro treated everyone with extraordinary respect, Beaulieu said. When you were done talking with him, you felt good about yourself, the teacher added.

St. Laurent smiled as she remembered one of Shapiro’s favorite phases. He’d say it over and over. It applied to him, she said.

“You, my friend, you’re good.”