carver met the poet tess gallagher at a writers' conference in dallas, texas in november, 1977. beginning in january, 1979, carver and gallagher lived together in el paso, texas, in a borrowed cabin near port angeles, in western washington state, and in tucson, arizona. in 1980, they moved to syracuse. gallagher was the coordinator of the creative writing program at syracuse university. carver was a professor in the english department. he and gallagher bought a house in syracuse, at 832 maryland avenue. later, the house became so popular that the couple had to hang a sign outside that read "writers at work" so that people would leave them alone. in 1982, carver and first wife, maryann, were divorced. he married gallagher in 1988 in reno, nevada. six weeks later, on august 2, 1988, carver died in port angeles, washington, from lung cancer at the age of 50. in the same year, he was inducted into the american academy of arts and letters.