Jeff Metcalf Bio, Age, Death, Career, Books, Plays, University of Utah Professor, Author & Playwright

W. Jeff Metcalf was one of Utah’s most beloved educators, writers, and social justice advocates — a man whose life’s work touched thousands of students, readers, and community members across the country and beyond. Best known as a long-time Professor of English at the University of Utah, Metcalf wore many hats over a career spanning more than four decades: award-winning playwright, essayist, filmmaker, and passionate champion for people without a platform. His candid, humor-filled play A Slight Discomfort — about his own battle with prostate cancer — earned him international recognition and left a lasting mark on the world of American theater.

Quick Facts

Early Life & Education

W. Jeff Metcalf was born on October 31, 1949, in the United States. While the exact city of his birth has not been widely documented in public records, he spent a significant portion of his life in Salt Lake City, Utah, which became the heart of his professional world and his personal identity.

Metcalf’s early years were shaped by a deep sensitivity to people around him — particularly those who were overlooked or underserved. Those who knew him described him as someone who was naturally drawn to stories, ideas, and the kind of human connection that most people walk right past. His early education experience, including time spent at the International School of The Hague in Holland, exposed him to a global perspective at a formative age — an influence that would later show up in his internationally staged theatrical work.

Interestingly, despite becoming one of the most celebrated educators in Utah’s academic history, Metcalf nearly dropped out of college and has been described as someone who became a teacher almost “by accident,” or, as he himself put it, “as a fluke.” That unconventional path to academia did not slow him down. Instead, it may have sharpened his empathy for students who struggled to find their footing in traditional educational systems. He channeled that empathy into more than 40 years of passionate, award-winning teaching.

Career Journey

Early Teaching Career and Discovering His Voice

Jeff Metcalf began his career as a high school English teacher, where he first encountered the kind of students who would define his life’s mission: young people with remarkable stories but no real platform to tell them. Former students from those early years later recalled him as transformative — a teacher who saw their potential before they could see it themselves. “Jeff was my high school English teacher. He was instrumental in my journey to becoming an English teacher,” one former student wrote upon hearing of his death.

His passion for non-traditional learners led him into a long career working with adult learners and disenfranchised youth, which eventually evolved into his academic position at the University of Utah.

University of Utah: Building a Legacy in the Classroom

Metcalf joined the English Department at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where he taught for over a decade as an assistant professor and later as a full professor. His courses covered playwriting, young adult novel writing, literature, and teaching methods — a range that reflected his belief that writing is not a single discipline but a living, breathing practice with real-world stakes.

He simultaneously taught in the Honors College, which allowed him to bridge two very different worlds: high-achieving undergraduate students and community members from marginalized backgrounds. That intersection became the foundation for one of his greatest career achievements.

Humanities in Focus: Giving Voice to the Voiceless

Perhaps the most lasting institutional mark Metcalf made during his career was the co-founding of Humanities in Focus — a year-long documentary filmmaking program run through the University of Utah’s Honors College. The program was built on a simple but powerful idea: pair university honors students with adults from underserved communities, teach them all how to make documentary films, and let them tell stories that mainstream media wouldn’t touch.

“We hope to give voice to the voiceless,” Metcalf said at one of the program’s film premieres.

Over the course of the program’s run, Metcalf and co-founder Craig Wirth (an Emmy Award-winning director and adjunct professor) guided students in the creation of more than 80 short documentary films covering topics including domestic violence, immigration, substance abuse, and social inequality. Several of these films went on to receive awards at the Sundance/FireFilms Award competition, including Diego’s Dream — a powerful film about a young immigrant’s journey across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Metcalf had no prior film experience when he started the program. He simply made a promise to his students — that he would help them tell their stories — and then he figured out how to keep it.

The Venture Program and Nonprofit Work

Alongside his university work, Metcalf was deeply involved in the Venture Program (also known as the Clemente/Venture Program), a humanities initiative aimed at granting underserved adults access to higher education. The program expanded to multiple sites across Utah, and in 2015, it received a White House Award in conjunction with Utah Humanities — a recognition of the program’s national significance.

Metcalf served as director of the nonprofit connected to this mission, reflecting his lifelong belief that education is not a privilege for the few but a right for everyone.

Playwright: A Slight Discomfort

When Metcalf was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he did what any great writer would do: he turned his crisis into art. A Slight Discomfort is a one-man play based on his personal journals, tracing his journey from diagnosis through treatment — with unflinching honesty, dark humor, and moments of profound grace.

The play had its world premiere at the Salt Lake Acting Company in October 2008 and never really stopped moving. Over the following decade, A Slight Discomfort was performed in fifteen U.S. states and five countries, including Croatia, Spain, Italy, and Turkey. It was broadcast on National Public Radio and Radio West. In 2019, the play completed a full-year touring run in Denmark, premiering at the Teatret Svalegangen in Aarhus — a theater whose director had first seen the play years earlier and never forgotten it.

A female audience member perhaps best captured the play’s universal appeal: “I have a prostate — I’ve been married to the same man for 20 years!”

Author: Books and Published Works

In addition to his theatrical work, Metcalf was a prolific essayist and fiction writer whose work appeared in regional and national publications, on NPR, and in international anthologies. His major published works include:

Requiem for the Living deserves special mention. When doctors told Metcalf that his cancer prognosis was dire — giving him roughly a 20 percent chance of surviving three more years — he responded by challenging himself to write one essay per week for an entire year. The resulting collection of 52 essays became not a story about dying but, as Metcalf put it, “a celebration of life.” Acclaimed author Ron Carlson described the book as “a truly unusual book” and “an intimate and frank book about a life well lived.”

Documentary Filmmaker: Buying Time

In 2019, filmmaker Patrick Selvage released Buying Time — a full-length documentary chronicling Metcalf’s long battle with prostate cancer and his extraordinary use of art as a response to illness. The film had its debut at a FireFilm/Sundance venue in January 2019 to strong reception and later screened at additional film festivals. It stands as a testament to the intersection of art and medicine in one remarkable man’s life.

Personal Life

Family and Marriage

Jeff Metcalf was a married man who called Salt Lake City, Utah home throughout most of his adult life. He was deeply private about the details of his immediate family, and his spouse’s name was not widely publicized in official records or interviews. Those close to him described him as a devoted partner and a man whose personal life was as richly layered as his professional one.

Fly-Fishing: A Life on the River

If teaching and writing were Metcalf’s public passions, fly-fishing was his private sanctuary. He was an avid fly-fisherman who spent as much time as possible on the trout rivers of the American West. In Back Cast, he wrote movingly about how those waters had quite literally saved his life during his darkest hours. He also volunteered with Reel Recovery, an organization that runs fly-fishing retreats specifically for men living with cancer — combining two of his greatest loves into an act of service.

“These waters have been my home, and I fish them more than most. In truth, they have saved my life on more than a few occasions,” Metcalf wrote.

Character and Community

People who knew Metcalf consistently describe him in similar terms: charismatic, funny, deeply empathetic, and fiercely committed to fairness and justice. His Salt Lake Tribune obituary called him “a true renaissance man” — a Captain of Adventure and Mischief who made everyone around him feel like anything was possible. He was not simply a university professor; he was a mentor, a connector, and a catalyst for change in the Salt Lake City community.

Controversies

Jeff Metcalf did not carry any notable public controversies during his lifetime. His career was defined by community service, social justice, and artistic integrity. He was, by virtually all accounts, one of those rare public figures who earned the admiration of colleagues, students, and strangers alike without the baggage of scandal or professional misconduct. No significant controversies have been documented in public records or reporting.

Awards & Achievements

Jeff Metcalf accumulated one of the most impressive collections of teaching and arts awards in Utah’s modern history. Below is a comprehensive list of his honors:

• 2019 — Cathedral de Madeleine Award in the Humanities
• 2017 — National Society of Leadership Excellence in Teaching Award
• 2017 — Surel’s Place Artist-in-Residence Award
• 2016 — Taft-Nicholson Artist-in-Residence Award
• 2015 — Surel’s Artist-in-Residence Award
• 2015 — National Endowment for the Humanities / White House Award (Clemente/Venture Program, in conjunction with Utah Humanities)
• 2015 — Salt Lake City Mayor’s Award for Literature (Mayor’s Artists Award, Literary Arts)
• 2014 — Distinguished Teacher Award, University of Utah
• 2012 — Utah Arts Council Literary Award, 1st Place Essay
• 2012 — Utah Division of Arts and Museums Original Writing Competition Winner (Requiem for the Living)
• 2011 — Utah Arts Council Literary Award, 1st Place Full-Length Collection, Creative Nonfiction
• 2008 — Career Teaching Award, University of Utah
• Ongoing — Huntsman Award for Excellence in Education
• Ongoing — Fulbright Memorial Scholar Award
• Ongoing — National Council of English Teachers Award
• Ongoing — Lifetime Advocacy Award, Writers @ Work
• Ongoing — Grants from the Utah Humanities Council and Utah Arts Council
• Sundance/FireFilms Awards — Multiple Humanities in Focus student documentaries received recognition

Physical Statistics

Quotes

“I am acutely sensitive to people — particularly people who don’t have voices — which kind of led me to creating the Humanities in Focus class.” — Jeff Metcalf

“These waters have been my home, and I fish them more than most. In truth, they have saved my life on more than a few occasions. I seek refuge in the quiet solitude of rivers.” — Jeff Metcalf, Back Cast

“We hope to give voice to the voiceless.” — Jeff Metcalf, at a Humanities in Focus film premiere

Favorites

• Favorite Activity: Fly-fishing on the rivers of the American West
• Favorite Medium: Playwriting and personal essay
• Favorite Cause: Social justice education and giving underserved communities access to storytelling
• Favorite Venue: The Salt Lake Acting Company (world premiere of A Slight Discomfort)
• Favorite River: Trout rivers of the Western United States (specific rivers mentioned in Back Cast)

Earnings

Jeff Metcalf held an academic position as a professor of English at the University of Utah, where faculty salaries in the humanities typically range from approximately $60,000 to $100,000 per year, depending on rank and tenure status. Given his numerous distinguished teaching awards and decades of service, it is reasonable to estimate his salary was at the higher end of that range in his later years. He also earned income through book royalties (University of Utah Press), play licensing fees for A Slight Discomfort, and honoraria from speaking engagements, artist-in-residence programs, and festival appearances. His nonprofit work with Humanities in Focus and the Venture Program was largely mission-driven rather than financially lucrative.

Note: Exact salary and income figures were not publicly disclosed.

Interesting Facts

• Metcalf had no prior filmmaking experience when he launched the Humanities in Focus documentary program at the University of Utah. He simply decided to learn, found the right partner in Craig Wirth, and built one of the most celebrated community film programs in the American West.
• His play A Slight Discomfort was performed in five countries and fifteen U.S. states — a remarkable run for an independent one-man play.
• Metcalf was given a dire cancer prognosis — about a 20 percent survival rate — yet went on to live and teach for years beyond that prediction, writing prolifically the entire time.
• He volunteered with Reel Recovery, running fly-fishing retreats for men with cancer, turning a personal hobby into a healing act for others.
• The documentary Buying Time about his life and cancer journey debuted at a Sundance-connected film festival in 2019 — the same year his play completed its Denmark tour.
• Metcalf’s work appeared on National Public Radio, which brought his voice and stories to a national audience far beyond Utah.
• He spent time at the International School of The Hague in the Netherlands during his younger years — an experience that gave him an early global perspective.

Did You Know?

• Did you know that Jeff Metcalf challenged himself to write one essay per week for an entire year after receiving a grim cancer diagnosis — and those 52 essays became the award-winning memoir Requiem for the Living?
• Did you know that the Humanities in Focus program Metcalf co-founded produced over 80 short documentary films, several of which won awards at Sundance-affiliated events?
• Did you know that Metcalf’s play A Slight Discomfort had its international world premiere in Denmark in 2019 — more than a decade after its first staging in Salt Lake City?
• Did you know that Metcalf became a teacher almost entirely by accident, describing it himself as “a fluke” that turned into a 40-year calling?

Social Media & Online Presence

Jeff Metcalf maintained a relatively modest public digital footprint, consistent with his generation and his focus on in-person community work. The following links connect to his official and documented online presence:

• Official Website: wjmetcalf.com
• Play Website: aslightdiscomfort.com
• LinkedIn: Jeff Metcalf — University of Utah
• University of Utah Profile: Humanities in Focus
• Mapping Literary Utah: Jeff Metcalf Profile
• Goodreads Author Page: Jeff Metcalf on Goodreads
• University of Utah Press: Back Cast

Note: Jeff Metcalf passed away on June 11, 2020. These links preserve his documented legacy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Jeff Metcalf best known for? Jeff Metcalf is best known for his award-winning one-man play A Slight Discomfort, his memoir Requiem for the Living, and his decades of teaching at the University of Utah. He is also widely recognized as the co-founder of the Humanities in Focus documentary filmmaking program, which produced over 80 short films focused on social justice and community voices.

When did Jeff Metcalf pass away? Jeff Metcalf passed away on June 11, 2020, in Salt Lake City, Utah, after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 70 years old. He had lived with the disease for many years and used his experience with cancer as the subject of much of his most celebrated creative work.

What is the play A Slight Discomfort about? A Slight Discomfort is a one-man play written and performed by Jeff Metcalf about his personal journey through a prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment. Based on his private journals, the play blends raw honesty with dark humor to explore what it means to confront illness and mortality. It premiered at the Salt Lake Acting Company in 2008 and went on to be performed in five countries and fifteen U.S. states, including a full-year run in Denmark in 2019.

What was the Humanities in Focus program? Humanities in Focus was a year-long documentary filmmaking course at the University of Utah, co-founded by Jeff Metcalf and Craig Wirth. The program paired honors students with adults from marginalized communities to create short documentary films on social justice themes. Over its run, the program produced more than 80 films, several of which won awards at the Sundance/FireFilms competition. The program was offered at no cost to community participants.

What books did Jeff Metcalf write? Jeff Metcalf’s major published works include Requiem for the Living (a memoir/essay collection published by the University of Utah Press, winner of the 2012 Utah Division of Arts and Museums Original Writing Competition), Back Cast: Fly-Fishing and Other Such Matters (University of Utah Press, 2018), Wacko’s City of Fun Carnival (fiction), and Hope, Heart and the Humanities (co-authored educational work). He also published numerous essays in national and regional magazines.

Did Jeff Metcalf win any major awards? Yes, extensively. Among his most notable honors are the 2019 Cathedral de Madeleine Award in the Humanities, the 2017 National Society of Leadership Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2015 Salt Lake City Mayor’s Award for Literature, the 2014 Distinguished Teacher Award from the University of Utah, the Huntsman Award for Excellence in Education, a Fulbright Memorial Scholar Award, and the National Council of English Teachers Award. His program also received a White House Award in 2015 in conjunction with Utah Humanities.

Conclusion

Jeff Metcalf lived a life that was, by any measure, full to the brim. He turned a cancer diagnosis into internationally performed art. He turned a promise to struggling students into 80+ documentary films. He turned fly-fishing trips into meditations on mortality and meaning. In classrooms, on stages, on rivers, and in the pages of his books, he gave people permission to tell their stories — and he showed them exactly how it’s done.

His legacy lives on in the work of every student he mentored, every film that came out of Humanities in Focus, and every reader who picks up Requiem for the Living and finds themselves, unexpectedly, laughing and crying on the same page.

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