Natan Yonatan, an award-winning Israeli poet, died on March 12. Cause of death was not released. He was 81.
Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Yonatan immigrated to Israel when he was two years old. He earned a graduate degree in Hebrew and general literature from Tel Aviv University, and spent 27 years as the chief editor of the Sifriyat Poalim publishing house.
Yonatan published his first book of poetry in 1951. Nineteen others followed, which were translated into several languages. Although he often wrote about love, nature and war, Yonatan was best known for the poem, “That Man.” It was written to eulogize Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995.
The winner of the 2001 Newman Prize for Hebrew Literature, Yonatan recently appeared in “Living in Conflict: Voices From Israel and Palestine,” a documentary about the 1973 Middle East war.