Poet, publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who helped launch the Beat movement, passes away at 101 SECTIONS Last Updated: Feb 24, 2021, 11:42 AM IST Share New York Times In 2012, Ferlinghetti won the Janus Pannonius International Poetry Prize from the Hungarian PEN Club. When he learned the country's right-wing government was a sponsor, he turned the award down. SAN FRANCISCO: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet, publisher, bookseller and activist who helped launch the Beat movement in the 1950s and embodied its curious and rebellious spirit well into the 21st century, has died at age 101. Ferlinghetti, a San Francisco institution, died Monday at his home, his son Lorenzo Ferlinghetti said. A month shy of his 102nd birthday, Ferlinghetti died "in his own room," holding the hands of his son and his son's girlfriend, "as he took his last breath." The cause of death was lung disease. Ferlinghetti had received the first dose of the Covid vaccine last week, his son said Tuesday.