Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and translator Richard Howard has died at age 92.

He was celebrated for his  monologues of historical figures and was a prolific translator who helped introduce U.S. readers to a wide range of French literature.

Howard died Thursday in a New York Hospital and according to his husband, had dementia.

For over half a century,  Howard’s poetry, essays and translations totaled well over 200 books and established him as a literary creator, commentator and interpreter.

He won the poetry Pulitzer in 1970 for  Untitled Subjects  and was a National Book Award finalist in 2008 for Without Saying.

His love for French started of all places, in a car. During a childhood road trip from Cleveland to Miami, he sat next to a Viennese cousin who decided to fill the long hours by teaching the language. By the time their journey ended Howard had learned an impressive vocabulary of nouns and verbs.