Dr. Peter Makuck (1940-2023)

Dr. Peter Makuck, distinguished professor emeritus, passed away on June 21, 2023. Makuck founded Tar River Poetry and taught English and creative writing at ECU from 1978 until his retirement in 2006. He was the author of eight books of poetry and four collections of short stories.

Makuck grew up in New London, Connecticut, and earned a doctorate in American literature from Kent State University. He was a Fulbright Exchange Professor at Cambery, France, and a visiting writer at Brigham Young University and N.C. State University.

Five Makuck short stories have received honorable mentions in the Best American Short Stories collections, and a personal essay on guns was named a Best Essay of 2000. For poetry, he has received the Zoe Kincaid Brockman Award for best book of poems by a North Carolinian.