Glide co-founder and former SF poet laureate Janice Mirikitani dies FacebookTwitterEmail From left, Rev. Cecil Williams, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Janice Mirikitani.E. Charbonneau/WireImage for Sony Pictures-Los Janice Mirikitani, the co-founder of San Francisco's Glide's center for social justice and a former city poet laureate, died early Thursday morning, Glide confirmed. She was 80. Glide, a community organization and church that seeks to fight injustice and poverty, said she died "with family and friends by her side." A cause of death was not given. "Janice brought fierce courage and spirit to everything she did," Glide wrote on its website. "She spoke her truth and inspired others to accept and celebrate themselves, each other, and all our differences."