Stern, New Jersey’s first poet laureate, died Thursday at Calvary Hospice in New York City, according to his longtime partner, Anne Marie Macari. He regarded “The One Thing in Life,” from the 1977 collection “Lucky Life,” as the poem that best defined him. Stern studied political science at the University of Pittsburgh and received a master’s in comparative literature from Columbia University. They had two children, Rachael Stern Martin and David Stern. Or get laid.”Besides Macari and his children, Stern is survived by grandchildren Dylan and Alana Stern and Rebecca and Julia Martin.

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