Tlingit cultural leader Nora Marks Dauenhauer dies at 90

Former Alaska writer laureate and Tlingit culture-bearer Nora Marks Dauenhauer died Monday at age 90.

Born in 1927, Dauenhauer was raised in the family fishing boat and at seasonal subsistence sites, in addition to Juneau and Hoonah, according to a summary of her accomplishments at the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.

A Tlingit speaker who began learning English at age 8, Dauenhauer received a degree in anthropology in 1976 and went on to win international recognition for her writing and other work. She was Alaska's writer laureate from 2012 to 2014, the first Alaska Native to hold the position.

"It's a significant loss to not only the Tlingit community but to the state of Alaska," Sealaska Heritage Institute President Rosita Worl told the Juneau Empire. "She was just a happy person. She was funny, she had a great sense of humor. She really brought a sense of joy to a great many people."

In 2008, Dauenhauer received an American Book Award for "Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 and 1804."

Dauenhauer edited the book with her husband, Richard Dauenhauer, who died in 2014, and with anthropologist Lydia Black, who died in 2007.