Max Ritvo | Poet, cancer patient, 25

Max Ritvo, 25, a poet who chronicled his long battle with cancer in works that were both humorous and searing, died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles, his mother, Ariella Ritvo-Slifka, said Friday.

Mr. Ritvo was diagnosed at 16 with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer that affects bones and soft tissue in children and young adults. Treatment brought about a remission that permitted him to finish high school and attend Yale University, where he performed in an improv comedy group.

Mr. Ritvo's cancer returned in his senior year, but he completed Yale and this year earned a master's degree from Columbia University.

His battle with the disease informed his works. A June poem in the New Yorker discussed an experiment in which cells from his tumors were used in cancer drug treatment experiments with mice.

"I want my mice to be just like me," he wrote. "I don't have any children. I named them all Max. First they were Max 1, Max 2, but now they're all just Max. No playing favorites."

Mr. Ritvo's first book of poetry, Four Reincarnations, is scheduled to be published this fall.

In addition to his mother, survivors include his wife, Victoria. The two married last summer. - AP