William (Bill) M. Bronk

William (Bill) M. Bronk. Poet. , Local poet William (Bill) Bronk was born in Fort Edward, New York to William M. Bronk and Ethel Funston Bronk. He was a descendant of Jonas Bronck, for whom the Bronx was named. William Bronk grew up in nearby Hudson Falls and lived in the same Victorian house for most of his life. After graduating from Hudson Falls High School and Dartmouth College, he continued his studies at Harvard University. Leaving Harvard in 1939, he focused on creating his work The Brother in Elysium - a study of the 19th century American writers Thoreau, Whitman, and Melville., In April of 1941, Bronk was drafted into the United States Army. He was discharged in October of 1945 with the rank of lst Lieutenant. After the war, Bronk went on to teach English at Union College in Schenectady, New York. He taught for one year and then returned to Hudson Falls to run his family's business, the William M. Bronk Coal and Lumber Company. He had a reponsibility as the sole male heir to carry on the family business. What Bronk thought would be a temporary appointment turned into a career. Bronk stayed with the company until its closure in 1978., Managing the Bronk Coal and Lumber Co. provided Bronk with financial security, and as a result he was able to harness his energy for more creative pursuits. Brook published his first book of poems, Light and Dark in 1956. He continued to produce more publications including Life Supports, for which he won the American Book Award for Poetry in 1982. Bronk also received the Lannan Literary Award for poetry in 1991. Bronk's writing often deals with the philosophical and metaphysical apects of life. The Southwest Review said of Bronk. "If Aristotle or Bernard Loengan wrote meditative verse, it would sound like William Bronk, only not as good.", Bronk continued to write and purchase works of art up until his death in 1999. His last public reading took place at Adirondack Community College's Visual Arts Gallery on November 2, 1997., [Photo captions not transcribed]