Gus Blaisdell, a faculty member in the UNM Media Arts department, died Wednesday night of a heart attack.
He was 67 years old.
"He died very suddenly," said his wife, Elizabeth Blaisdell. "He had high blood pressure but there wasn't anything that led anyone to believe there was anything serious."
Blaisdell taught various Media Arts courses at the University for about 25 years, his wife said.
"He was a writer," Elizabeth said. "He was brilliant. I thought he was the most wonderful person in the world."
Blaisdell taught courses in film at UNM and Elizabeth said he had a passion for teaching.
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"He taught the history of film," his wife said. "He loved to teach very much and was very committed to his students. He wanted to expose them to many ideas that they might not find in other places."
Jeff Bryan, a friend of Blaisdell who worked for him at the Living Batch Bookstore for more than 12 years, agreed that Blaisdell took great enjoyment from teaching.
"He loved the classes he taught," Bryan said. "Those who took his courses enjoyed the idiosyncratic content of his classes."
Blaisdell owned Living Batch for more than 25 years until it closed in 1999.
"He was a bit of a curmudgeon but I'll let other people qualify that," Bryan said. "I had lunch with him on Wednesday afternoon before he died and we discussed jazz, poetry and books over posole at the Frontier. He was an extremely enjoyable person to converse with."
Blaisdell earned his bachelor's degree in English and philosophy from Stanford University. He also was a widely respected poet and essayist.
Blaisdell is survived by four children from a previous marriage: Shawn Blaisdell, Nicole Blaisdell-Ivey, Luc Blaisdell and Casey Blaisdell.
"He wrote poetry and art criticism," Elizabeth said. "He had an awful lot of friends. It seemed like he knew everybody in Albuquerque. There were an awful lot of people who cared about him."
