DIED. Howard Nemerov, 71, Pulitzer-prize-winning poet and former U.S. poet laureate; of cancer; in St. Louis. A World War II combat pilot, Nemerov went on to write 30 books, including novels and short stories. In 1978 his Collected Poems won both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. Known as a very private man, he explained that "if you're a word slinger for a living, teaching and writing, when you get to be alone you like it to be quiet."