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December 14
From Harlem, NY he was a graduate of the New York City Public School System. Patterson received his BA in Political Science from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he was class poet, and won the Boretone Mountain Poetry Award for best poem written by an undergraduate. He received his MA in English from NYU. A prolific poet whose work was widely anthologized, Patterson was author of 26 Ways of Looking at a Black Man and Other Poems 1969, and Elemental Blues (1983). He also wrote an unpublished book length poem on the life of Phillis Wheatley and two opera librettos. Patterson read his works widely, from local venues to the Library of Congress in Washington DC and at the 60th Birthday Celebration of Chinua Achebe at the University of Nigeria. He collaborated with his wife in the creation of Black Poets Reading, a non-profit speakers' bureau; represented the US at the Struga Festival in Macedonia. He was an Umbra Poet who served on the executive boards of the Poetry Society of America, the PEN American Center, and the Walt Whitman Birthplace. Patterson was also a well-known figure on the Long Island poetry landscape, a dignified voice for poetry who served for many years as a mentor to many individual writers regionally. His poetry also appeared in publications like Transatlantic Review, Ohio Review and Beloit Poetry Journal, as well as in many anthologies including "The Poetry of the Negro," "New Black Voices," "The Norton Introduction to Literature" and "The Best American Poetry of 1996." Patterson joined the New York City College faculty in 1968 and was founder of its Langston Hughes Festival, which he directed from 1973 to 1993. Ray Patterson died on April 5th 2001 at the age of 71. He is survived by a daughter, Ama Patterson, a sister, Carol Patterson Lewis of Plainfield, New Jersey, and two grandchildren. Reference: The African American Atlas Black History & Culture an Illustrated Reference by Molefi K. Asanta and Mark T. Mattson Macmillam USA, Simon & Schuster, New York ISBN 0-02-864984-2 to be a Writer
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