Bruce Dobler was a familiar figure on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, where he taught a variety of writing courses for 28 years before retiring two years ago.

With his characteristic gray crewcut and beard, sly smirk and wealth of humorous stories, Mr. Dobler was a mainstay of the university's undergraduate and graduate nonfiction writing program.

He was found dead at 71 on Sunday afternoon at his apartment in El Paso, Texas, where he had moved in 2008 to marry Juileta Barrera, a former student of his at the University of Texas-El Paso. Mr. Dobler taught there before moving to Pittsburgh in 1979.

No details of his death were available. The El Paso County medical examiner's office said it will release its autopsy report following the results of toxicology tests in four to six weeks.

Praise for his teaching skills and sense of humor were offered by other former students and colleagues this week following word of his death.

"Bruce was the kind of mentor who would build you up and make you think that your writing was just brilliant," recalled Kathleen Tarr, program coordinator of the low-residency master of fine arts program at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. "He was always there supporting you in everything you did. He gave people so much of his time."

Mrs. Tarr studied with Mr. Dobler at Pitt in 2002 and stayed in touch with him after he moved to El Paso. "Lee Gutkind (a former Pitt professor) taught us the techniques of nonfiction writing, but Bruce taught us the poetry of it."

Mr. Dobler graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1968 and worked a series of jobs before being hired at Pitt. He was a publicity agent for the builders of the Alaska oil pipeline, writer-in-residence at Phillips Exeter Academy and a stand-up comedian.

"He was a really good writer and a funny guy," said Patsy Sims, former Pitt colleague now running a graduate writing program at Goucher College. "I knew he had done a stint of stand-up comedy, and that showed up in his classes from time to time. A lot of his undergrad students were very fond of him."

Mr. Dobler had published three novels in the 1970s, all out of print, and was editing a textbook on creative writing for a British publisher, said Paige Liniger, who shared his love of swing dancing.

"Bruce had always been a dancer. If he hadn't become a writer, he would have danced for a living," Ms. Liniger said. She added that he had been planning a memoir tentatively called "Vacant Lots."

The two shared a Squirrel Hill home for several years after Mr. Dobler and his first wife, Patricia, divorced. Mrs. Dobler, who died in 2004, was a respected poet and director of the poetry program, Madwomen in the Attic, at Carlow University. At the time of her death, she was preparing to direct the new graduate writing program at Carlow.

Another poet and Mr. Dobler's colleague in the Pitt English Department, Lynn Emanuel said in a written statement:

"Bruce Dobler was a very old friend of mine and a good and long-standing friend of many writers in the Pittsburgh community. It's very sad that this is the end of such a large and promising life."

Writer Jeanne Marie Laskas, a former Dobler student, followed in his footsteps at Pitt, where she teaches nonfiction writing.

"Bruce made a lot of careers [in his teaching]," Ms. Laskas said. "He gave us all such a boost of confidence, for better or worse. He was like your Dad believing in you, the person out there who told you you had it."

Mr. Dobler "taught the full spectrum of nonfiction at Pitt, from the highest graduate workshop to the intro courses for undergrads," she said. "That was the happy Bruce. Then there was the troubled Bruce," she added, "especially troubled with relationships. He was a tortured soul."

Mr. Dobler battled depression and physical ailments, sources said. But his new life in El Paso seemed to be agreeing with him, Ms. Laskas said.

"He was really happy to go there and was really enjoying the mountains around El Paso where he could hike."

Mr. Dobler also wrote frequently for Pittsburgh publications including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and won several local writing awards.

He launched in 1983 the still-running summer poetry reading series at Hemingway's Cafe in Oakland, where the leading and lesser lights of the city's writing community have appeared.

Mr. Dobler is also survived by two daughters, Lisa Mullen of Maryland and Stephanie Cerra of California. There is no information on memorial services.

First Published: August 21, 2010, 4:00 a.m.