Casper Star-Tribune Opinion Page Editor and columnist Charles Levendosky, well-known nationally as both a poet and, in his later years, as a fierce defender of the First Amendment and civil liberties, died Sunday at his Casper home after a long battle with cancer. He was 67.

His weekly columns in the Sunday Star-Tribune - which have been syndicated by the New York Times wire service since 1995 - served as a lightning rod for both praise and criticism of his liberal opinions.

His columns have appeared in more than 225 newspapers, including the Boston Globe, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and the International Herald Tribune.

"Charles brought a lot of energy to the paper and a great sense of humor," said Star-Tribune Editor Dan Neal.

His fight with cancer was intense, one he joined the past four years with the help of his wife Dale Eckhardt.

"He showed everyone at the end … that you can decide to stand up to whatever is challenging you and still do your best work," Neal said.

While many Levendosky critics often tried to dismiss him simply by labeling him a liberal, Neal said, "people who really wanted to tackle him had to deal with someone who made a solid argument, knew what he was talking about, and knew a lot about the law."

Walt Urbigkit, former Wyoming Supreme Court chief justice, said he talked frequently with Levendosky. "We shared the same antipathy for police-state type of legislation … the thought that by limiting privileges and freedoms of individuals, you better protected society. We didn't see it that way at all," he said.

Nationally syndicated columnist Nat Hentoff of The Village Voice said he and Levendosky shared leads on stories about infringements on the Bill of Rights, including the Patriot Act.

"It's one thing to have the passion and the concern with keeping the liberties that the administration keeps telling us they're fighting to preserve against the terrorists, but it's quite another - and it's much more rare - to have somebody who writes about that with such meticulous care as to facts and the kind of research he did," Hentoff said.

Hentoff said when he taught graduate journalism students at New York University last year, "I kept reading them some of the things (Levendosky) did as the best examples I could think of (to show) what responsible journalism is. He really had the passion and a keen sense of his responsibilities to his readers."

Levendosky's interests in the arts and journalism merged when he created the Star-Tribune's annual Arts Edition in 1981 and edited it until 1988. The 1987 edition won the Wyoming Governor's Award for the Arts.

Tom Rea, a poet, author and former Star-Tribune city editor, said he first met Levendosky when he enrolled in Levendosky's poetry writing course at Casper College. He later succeeded Levendosky as a writer-in-residence with the Wyoming Arts Council and, at his encouragement, joined the newspaper as letters editor.

Rea recalled Levendosky the teacher as "generous and inspiring, funny and exotic, because he had this sort of New York flavor around him."

"I remember kind of admiring that same kind of directness - which was sometimes bluntness," he said. The approach "also enabled him to energize the whole arts scene in Wyoming, especially writing."

He noted that his friend became a First Amendment expert. "There aren't many writers who launch out into a whole new expertise entirely on their own like that. That's kind of rare."

Even people who disagreed vehemently with Levendosky respected his talent and opinions.

"He and I had some delicious scraps, with passion and intensity on both sides," said former Republican U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson. "He used humor, just like I did. When people would come at him just hammer and tongs (and say), 'You rotten commie' and all this, he'd just laugh and throw them off."

"I didn't always agree with him at all, but you admired his intellect and his passion for privacy and the right to be left alone, the right for the government to stay out of people's lives," Simpson added. "He wrote with passion, and of course people would respond with passion."

In developing the Star-Tribune's comprehensive letters page, Neal noted that Levendosky "had to confront his own inhibitions about letting someone say something that he totally disagreed with."

"He had to confront the idea that that's what the First Amendment is really all about - protecting everyone's right to say what they think, even if we really disagree with it. I think it was such an epiphany for him. I believe that was when he decided he was going to make it his work for the last third of his life."

"Charles was a very warm, caring person, extremely talented and highly intelligent," said Joan Barron, the Star-Tribune's capital bureau chief and long-time colleague. "His death is a loss to the state."

Star-Tribune Publisher Nathan Bekke joined the paper Jan. 5, after Levendosky had stopped writing his columns due to his illness. "I was not fortunate enough to meet Charles, but his effect on our staff, our readers and the people of Wyoming will continue to be felt for years to come," Bekke said.

Levendosky was born into a military family in the Bronx, N.Y., on July 4, 1936. After moving many times during his childhood, he talked about putting down roots in Wyoming when he came to the state in 1972. He sank them deep and joined the Star-Tribune in 1982.

Gov. Mike Sullivan appointed him Wyoming poet laureate in 1988. He wrote 12 books of poetry, beginning with "Perimeters" in 1970. His latest volume, "The Peeping Tom Poems," was published in 2003.

A full obituary appears on page B3 today.