Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti was a poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. Ferlinghetti wrote poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and film narration. He was best known for his second collection of poems, "A Coney Island of the Mind," which was published in 1958. Ferlinghetti served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then received his M.A. in English literature from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Paris. When Ferlinghetti turned 100 in March 2019, the city of San Francisco created the annual "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day" on his birthday, March 24. He died in February of 2021.