Lyricist Richard Engquist Dies of Lung Cancer at 76

Lyricist Richard Engquist died on Thursday in Brooklyn at the age of 76. According to his wife, Jane E. Brody, he died from lung cancer.

Engquist wrote the lyrics to a number of musicals, including KUNI-LEML in 1984 which won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best Off Broadway musical.

Engquist's other works include a musical version of Maxwell Anderson's drama "Elizabeth the Queen," titled, ELIZABETH AND ESSEX.  He worked on a number of shows for the Jewish Repertory Theater including MY HEART IS IN THE EAST (1983) and HALF A WORLD AWAY (1987).

Collaborations included "ABIE'S ISLAND ROSE" with Frank Evans and LITTLE HAM (2002) with composer Judd Woldin. LITTLE HAM was a musical based on Langston's Hughes' comedy set in 1920's Harlem.

His most recent work was LORENZO, which was produced at the New York Musical Theater Festival in 2009.

Richard Engquist was born on April 26, 1933 in Minnesota. He went to school at Hamline University where he received a bachelor's degree in education and speech. He served as a parish secretary at the Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church in Manhattan and was a writer and editor for Faith at Work, a publishing house.

Engquist was married to a reporter for The Times in 1966 named Jane E. Brody. The two worked together to write "Secrets of Good Health" (1970). Engquist was a member at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop and wrote "Richard's Almanac" for the workshop's newsletter.

He is survived by his wife and their twin sons Erik and Lorin, his sister Muriel Cashin, and 4 grandchildren.

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