In memoriam: Dr. Harry Foster

Dr. Harry Foster of the Department of Geography passed away on August 15, succumbing to one of the diseases that he had done so much to add understanding of—cancer. It was an enormous shock to the department, who had so recently and exuberantly roasted Harry on his retirement just a few short months earlier. A further celebration of Harry’s life will be held at the University Club on October 27 at 3.30 p.m. and all are welcome to attend.

Harold Douglas Foster was born in Yorkshire, something that might account for his direct manner and well-known sense of humour. He attended University College, London, where he obtained his PhD in 1968, and was appointed to the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria in that same year.

Last year he received his 40-year service commendation from the university. Harry was ostensibly a geomorphologist, but soon expanded his interests into a wide variety of applied topics, often working in concert with W.R.D. (Derrick) Sewell. Harry went on to author early books on solar power, climate change, resilience, water management, disaster planning and many other areas that are now looked on as much more mainstream than in the years that he wrote them. Over 30 years ago he was writing books on renewable energy and 25 years ago warning of water shortages in Canada, seemingly impossible in those days.

However Harry will be best remembered for his contributions to medical geography, where he developed many early concepts regarding the spatial distribution of diseases and environmental causality behind certain diseases long before such relationships were recognized. He wrote books on schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, AIDS and cancer, to name a few. He was enormously productive with some 400 articles and over 16 books published. He was also the series editor for the department’s well known Western Geographical Series of book publications. Harry also developed and sponsored programs that implemented some of the measures that he suggested to “make things better,” such as AIDS initiatives in Africa. Nothing can sum up my recollection of Harry better than his contribution to a departmental wrangle a few years ago about measuring academic productivity. Harry suggested we should be assessed on the basis of “how much good we have done for society” in a discussion that was focused on crucial academic matters such as the relative impact factors of various journals in different fields. Obviously Harry didn’t get it. Or perhaps he was the only one that did. He will be sorely missed.

Submitted by Dr. Philip Dearden, Chair, Department of Geography