Obituary: Eric Van Cleve, 25

Eric Van Cleve, a master’s candidate in the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, died in his sleep April 11 at his home in Dublin, Ohio. He was 25.

Van Cleve graduated from Dublin Coffman High School in 2001 and from the Ohio State University in 2005, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He was to receive his Master’s degree in poetry from Washington University this May.

“Eric Van Cleve was a very talented young poet,” said Mary Jo Bang, professor of English. “His poems demonstrated a sophisticated knowledge of form and poetic history and a wry sense of humor. I feel certain that the poems he had written, and the poems he had yet to write, would have found an appreciative audience. Several of his poems had already been published.”

In 2003 Van Cleve was awarded a fellowship to the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets at Bucknell University. In 2005 he received an honorable mention for the Academy of American Poets Prize and also was a finalist for the Indiana Review Poetry Prize. His poem “Rendezvous with the Transitive Property” appeared in the journal Fourteen Hills while “Intermission” appeared in the online edition of Rio Grande Review.

A funeral service was held April 17 at the Dublin Community Church, with burial at the Dublin Cemetery. Donations in Van Cleve’s memory may be made to the Dublin Community Church, 81 W. Bridge St., Dublin, Ojio, 43017. Condolences may be left at rutherfordfuneralhomes.com.

Van Cleve is survived by his parents, Robert and Karen Van Cleve, as well as by his brother, John, and his fiancé, Carolyn Rita Wilson.