Obituaries : George F. Butterick; Poet and Editor Popularized Olson Work

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. —  George F. Butterick, 45, whose editing of the writings of poet Charles Olson (1910-1970) helped popularize Olson’s work and set a standard for scholarly work on contemporary poetry, died early Monday at his home here after a long battle with cancer.

Butterick, himself a poet, was curator of the literary archives of the University of Connecticut and a lecturer in English literature. He joined the university faculty in 1970 as an assistant professor.

A native of Yonkers, N.Y., he was a graduate of Manhattan College in New York and received a doctorate in English literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1970. While at the university, he studied under Olson and began a lifelong devotion to him.

He received the Los Angeles Times Book Award for poetry for editing the 1983 compilation of Olson’s “Maximus Poems” and the American Book Award for editing “The Collected Poems of Charles Olson,” published in 1987.

Under Butterick’s direction, the University of Connecticut’s literary archives became the home of Olson’s papers.