Writer George Garrett, former director of the University of Virginia's highly ranked Creative Writing Program, died in Charlottesville May 25. He was 78. Garrett, the author of dozens of books of fiction, poetry and nonfiction, retired in 2000 from the English department as the Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing.

"For almost two generations, George Garrett has been a man for all seasons in American letters, and also in the universities where he and his family have primarily lived. His topics and styles have ranged from the most somber to the most comic. He has excelled for our time in every major genre of American literature. Gifted and generous teacher, lively and kind companion, scholar of depth and vast range, George Garrett has left marks of his goodness wherever he has gone. It is hard to imagine another quite his equal." 

• U.Va. Profiles features George Garrett

• Washington Post obituary

• Times-Dispatch obituary

• Daily Progress obituary