When his wife, Jean, died of cancer in 1991, Lochhead elegized her in the collections "Black Festival" (1991) and "Homage to Henry Alline & Other Poems" (1992). In 1998, heart problems required him to undergo triple-bypass surgery. He was named Sackville's first poet laureate in 2002 in recognition of his status as a writer whose work reflected an intense interest in and sensitivity to local places. Increasingly frail, he moved to a Sackville nursing home in 2009 and died there on March 15, 2011.