SHERBORN, Mass., and MILBRIDGE – Harry L. Foster Jr., 62, husband of Susan (Meddaugh) Foster of Sherborn, Mass., died Friday, July 13, 2007, at Brigham & Wo-men’s Hospital, Boston, after a long illness. Born in Hayward, Calif., he was a son of Marguerite (Heer) Foster of Houston, and the late Harry L. Foster. Mr. Foster, a graduate of Cornell University, combined his lifelong passion for reading with his love of nature, as an editor of natural history books at Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and then for nearly three decades at Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. He was an advocate for authors dedicated to protecting the animal kingdom and the natural world, and he edited some of the finest, Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Mark and Delia Owens, Rick Bass, Sy Montogomery, Kenn Kaufman, Sue Hubbell and David Carroll, among others. For many years he also oversaw the Peterson Field Guide series. He edited a number of best-selling titles, including Steven Callahan’s Adrift and Stephen Sear’s books on the Civil War, as well as novelists, including Howard Frank Mosher. He truly enjoyed the authors with whom he worked. On a more personal level, Mr. Foster never passed up an opportunity to help a turtle to safely cross a road or to rescue a lost or abandoned dog. As a result of his interests, his family enjoyed a series of wonderful animals including rats, ferrets and other rodents, reptiles, amphibians and of course an ongoing crowd of canines. He loved his family and particularly enjoyed his home in Milbridge, where he could wander the blueberry fields with binoculars and dogs. In addition to his wife and mother, he is survived by one son, Nicholas H. Foster of Sherborn, Mass.; one sister, Linda Middleton of Houston; his nep-hew, Keith English of Houston; and his aunt, Betty H. Williams of Little Rock, Ark., where he grew up. He will also be missed by his many friends and relatives too numerous to name. Services and burial will be private. The family requests that those wishing to make a contribution in name send it to the MSPCA, 350 South Huntington Ave., Boston MA 02130 or to any humane society or animal shelter of their choice. Arrangements by John Everett & Sons Funeral Home, 4 Park St., Natick Common, Mass. www.everettfuneral.com
HARRY L. FOSTER JR.
