FREDERICTON, N.B., CAN. — William Alfred Bauer died at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital on June 12.

Born in 1932 in Portland, son of the late Alfred and Virginia Bauer, Bill came to Fredericton in 1965 to teach in the English department at UNB and for the next 30 years, he was there as a respected professor, mentor, poet and original thinker.

While his beloved Maine fed his imagination and literary projects, it was New Brunswick that became his final true home. An active member of its literary and artistic community, he contributed to the flowering of the province’s cultural life that continues to this day. In his later years, he was profoundly touched by the kindness of the Fredericton community and grateful to the humane and effective healthcare system that extended his time with us. He was most proud to call himself a Frederictonian, a New Brunswicker and a Canadian.

Bill Bauer was, above all, a great family man. He created a vibrant, intimate family culture of colour, storytelling and laughter. His brilliant sense of humour turned many family suppers to hysterics and his childlike creative spirit saw him undertake all manner of eccentric hobbies, from rug-hooking to painting to growing and decorating gourds. He was a champion of the pleasures of the life that one creates humbly for oneself and he disdained high seriousness. Yet, he cared so much, for his wife, his children and his grandchildren. He worried about us, he paced when we were gone and we never thought for a minute that we were anything else but the most important thing in his life. May we all care for each other as much as he cared for us.

Among those mourning this gentleman’s passing are his wife of 54 years, Nancy Bauer; children, John (Kimberly), Grace and Ernie (Marie-Josée); grandchildren, Marie-Luka, Audrée-Anne, William and Louise; brother, Thomas; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Wendell and Reba Luke; a niece; a nephew; and cousins.