Wilmington writer Philip Gerard, who helped bring 1898 into the open, dies at 67

Students and faculty at the University of North Carolina Wilmington are mourning the death of Philip Gerard, a longtime professor and one of the co-founders of its creative writing department.

Gerard, 67, died Monday.

"He was like the center pole for the tent," said fellow professor Clyde Edgerton. "This is just a tremendous loss for our department."

A prolific writer, Gerard was perhaps best known for "Cape Fear Rising." His 1994 historical novel was based on the Wilmington coup and massacre of 1898, when an armed group of whites organized by some of the town's leading citizens overthrew the local government, killed dozens of Blacks and forced untold others to leave Wilmington under threat of death.

Though fictionalized, the book was based on true events and used the real names of the some of the participants. Some, like Hugh MacRae, were still well-known to Wilmingtonians in the 1990s.

The book was criticized at the time by many. But "Cape Fear Rising" helped spark community debate, which led to the organizing of the 1898 Centennial Commission and ultimately forced Wilmington to reckon with its racially fraught past.

"He was willing to call out, by name, unpunished murderers," Edgerton said. "It was inspiring."

Gerard wrote widely on other topics. His outings on the Cape Fear River led to "Down the Wild Cape Fear," published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2013.

His series of columns for Our State Magazine for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War led to his 2019 book, "The Last Battleground."

"He had a really deep understanding of North Carolina, which he cultivated from the time he got here," said Lynn York, publisher of Durham-based Blair, which released Gerard's most recent book, "North Carolina in the 1940s."

A second volume, "North Carolina in the 1950s," is due for release in March.

More: Wilmington booksAuthor and UNCW professor Philip Gerard starts book series on North Carolina history

Born April 7, 1955, in Newark, Delaware, Gerard attended St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware.

"When I was a kid, I actually sat down and made a list of all the things I wanted to do," Gerard told the StarNews in 2006. "And ever since I've been ticking them off. I wanted to go to Alaska, so I went to Alaska. I wanted to learn to play the guitar, so I did."

Gerard graduated from the University of Delaware in 1977 with a double major in English and anthropology. After some newspaper work, he earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Arizona in 1981. He taught at Arizona State and Lake Forest College before coming to UNCW in the late 1980s.

Within a few years, he was director of the program in professional and creative writing within UNCW's English department. He then developed and refined the creative writing program to such a level that it attained departmental status. He served several terms as chairman.

Gerard's other books include the novels "Hatteras Light" (1986), "Desert Kill" (1994) and "The Dark of the Island" (2016). Some of his work was set on the Outer Banks, where he often vacationed as a boy.

As a teacher, Gerard championed what he called "creative nonfiction," using a storyteller's arts and crafts to convey facts more effectively. Among his professional texts were "Writing a Book That Makes a Difference" (2000), "Creative Nonfiction" (2004) and "The Art of Creative Research" (2017).

Gerard's other books included "Secret Soldiers" (2002), a study of camouflage and deception in World War II; "The Patron Saint of Dreams" (2012); and "Things We Do When No One is Watching."

Honors include the Chancellor's Medal for Excellence in Teaching and the Board of Trustees Teaching Award. In 2019, Gov. Roy Cooper presented Gerard with the North Carolina Award for Literature.

Gerard wrote frequently for Our State Magazine. With his wife, Jill, he was co-editor of Chautauqua, the literary journal of the Chautauqua Institution.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington writer and UNCW professor Philip Gerard dies at 67