Northern Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney dies DUBLIN, Ireland, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Northern Irish poet and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney died Friday in Dublin, his family said in a statement. He was 74. No cause of death was specified but The Irish Independent said he had been in poor health since he suffered a stroke several years ago. The death has taken place of Seamus Heaney. The poet and Nobel Laureate died in hospital in Dublin this morning after a short illness," the statement from his family read. "The presence of Seamus was a warm one, full of humor, care and courtesy -- a courtesy that enabled him to carry with such wry Northern Irish dignity so many well-deserved honors from all over the world," Irish President Michael D. Higginssaid . Heaney, a former teacher, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995. He is survived by his wife, Marie, and children, Christopher, Michael and Catherine Ann, the Independent said.