Richard Herbert Foote (1918-2002) Richard H. Foote, a Longtime Member and Former President of the Entomological Society of Washi
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31 March 2003 PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 105(2), 2003, pp. 508-516 OBITUARY Richard Herbert Foote (1918-2002) Richard H. Foote, a longtime member old-fashioned way to bring up children in a and former President of the Entomological family. We were raised according to Chris- Society of Washington, died on February 9, tian tradition, and both of us were always 2002. Known fondly as "Dick" to his confident of our parents' love as long as many friends and colleagues, he passed they lived." away suddenly, at the age of 83, of com- Dick's interest in biology had its roots in plications following a broken hip. Among his father's work as a sanitary and civil en- the highlights and accomplishments of his gineer. Herb Foote worked for the State of long career, Dick became a world recog- Montana from 1923, when he assumed the nized specialist on the taxonomy of fruit position of Director of the Water and Sew- flies, served as leader of the Systematic En- age Division of the Montana State Board of tomology Laboratory, ARS, USD A, and Health, until his retirement in the 1950's. was an early advocate for the use of com- He led the successful efforts to rid Montana puters for information storage and retrieval of typhoid fever through his work on the in entomology. drinking water systems of the state and re- Richard Herbert Foote was born on May ceived an honorary doctorate for his work 2, 1918 in Bozeman, Montana, by eight in parasitology from the University of Mon- years the elder of the two children of Her- tana. As a youth, Dick traveled with his bert and June Foote. He was raised in He- Dad on some of his business trips about the lena, where (in the words of his sister Katie state. Dick's mother June (Melton) Foote, Osborne) "We got the full benefit of the was a Registered Nurse, with a degree from unlimited love and care of our parents—an University Medical College, Kansas City, VOLUME 105, NUMBER 2 509 of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, in the unit that later became the Systematic En- tomology Laboratory, to help produce a manual of medically important mosquitoes. In 1954 he was assigned responsibility for flies affecting plants, after which he con- ducted extensive taxonomic research on fruit flies (Tephritidae). In the USDA Dick served in numerous administrative positions, including Assis- tant to the Chief, Insect Identification and Parasite Introduction Research Branch, En- tomology Research Division (1960—65), Assistant Branch Chief, IIPI (1965-72), and Laboratory Chief, Systematic Entomology Laboratory (1972-76), which then included 28 scientists and about 40 total staff. He returned to full time research on fruit flies Dick Foote as a young scientist. in 1976, and although he retired from the USDA in May 1983, he continued this Missouri in 1910, where she worked until work until publication of the Handbook of 1916, when she and Herb were married and the Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) of moved to Bozeman. She was a stay-at- America North of Mexico in 1993. home mom who, together with his father, Dick was fond of editing and was good provided a stable, warm, and loving envi- at it. He served as Editor for the Journal of ronment for Dick and his sister. Economic Entomology, the Thomas Say Dick was a graduate of Montana State Foundation publications, the Miscellaneous University, Bozeman (B.S. in Entomology, Publications of the Entomological Society of 1941). His formal education was interrupt- America, the Proceedings of the Entomolog- ed by service in the U.S. Army in World ical Society of Washington, and the Journal War II (5/1943-6/1945), mostly in Europe of the Washington Academy of Sciences, and where he was a clerk in the Office of the as an Assistant Editor for the Annals of the Chief Surgeon (12/1943-6/1945), attaining Entomological Society of America. After his the rank of Tech. Sgt. He worked as a copy retirement he worked part time as a copy writer for Western Catalog Company editor for the Entomological Society of (1945—46), and then as a self-employed America publications until three months be- pest control operator in Montana (1946- fore his death. Dick was an active member 1947). He was then employed as a curator of various professional societies, especially of the collection of medically important in- the Entomological Society of America, the sects of the Public Health Service, Center Entomological Society of Washington, the for Disease Control, in Atlanta, Georgia American Institute of Biological Sciences, (10/1947-9/1949), after which he earned a the Washington Academy of Sciences, and doctorate from Johns Hopkins University, the Council of Biology Editors. He also be- School of Hygiene and Public Health longed to the American Association for the (Sc.D. in Parasitology, 6/1952). His disser- Advancement of Science, American Mos- tation concerned the taxonomy of the im- quito Control Association, American Society mature stages of Culex mosquitoes. for Information Science, Kansas Entomolog- In March 1952 Dick was employed by ical Society, Society of Systematic Zoology, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau Sigma Xi, and the Council of Biological In- 510 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON formation (London). He served as president technology to address the problems of in- of the Washington Academy of Sciences and formation retrieval in Biology, chairing or the Entomological Society of Washington. serving on all key groups, such as those of Dick's scientific publications (listed be- the National Academy of Science, Ameri- low) included 90 taxonomic works on flies, can Institute of Biology and ESA. For En- 10 publications on information retrieval, 32 tomology and ESA, he delivered the first book reviews, and 3 obituaries. Not listed Thesaurus for any discipline (1977). In are numerous reports and editorials he USDA he led automation projects to create wrote. His research involved six families of the Catalog of Coleoptera of America flies, in which he described 12 genera and North of Mexico and a fruit fly information 68 species. system. These were prototypes for larger ef- The majority of Dick's fly research con- forts to catalog all insects. Unfortunately, cerned the taxonomy of Culicidae (mosqui- neither the appropriate amount of resources toes) and Tephritidae (fruit flies). His work nor computer technology were then avail- on work on mosquitoes included his disser- able to bring these project to full fruition, tation on the larval and pupal stages of the but the concepts and designs Dick devel- Culex subgenera Melanoconion and Moch- oped inspired and greatly aided our later ef- lostyrax, and a series of pictorial keys to forts to produce databases for fruit flies and various other mosquitoes, culminating in a other flies. manual for the identification of the medi- For more than a decade, Dick was a true cally important species (Foote and Cook leader of the Systematic Entomology Lab- 1959). His research on fruit flies, for which oratory due to his vision of what System- he is best known, included the description atic s should provide the larger scientific of 12 genera and 49 species. More impor- community. Under his direction and en- tantly, however, Dick tackled several large couragement, projects to compile and verify projects that produced new data and syn- the names of moths (Hodges, et alia 1983, thesized previously published information, Lepidoptera checklist), bugs (Henry and leaving a clear knowledge base that his col- Froeschner 1988, Heteroptera catalog), leagues could easily use and that his suc- flies, and beetles (see above) were begun. cessors could build upon. These included These were team efforts of extensive scope his extensive revisions of the North Amer- and vision. Indicative of his standing in the ican fruit fly fauna, culminating in publi- entomological community, in 1981 Dick re- cation of the Handbook of the Fruit Flies ceived the Outstanding Entomologist (Diptera: Tephritidae) of America North of Award in Systematics from the American Mexico, of which he was lead author, by Registry of Professional Entomologists. Cornell University Press in 1993, a key to We fondly remember Dick Foote not only the Neotropical fruit fly genera (1980), and for his accomplishments and innovative catalogs of the fruit flies of the Nearctic, ideas, but also for his affable nature and ea- Neotropical, Palearctic, and Australasian gerness to help others. He had a warm smile Regions. and a kind word for everyone. As an ad- Beyond his fly taxonomy, Dick will be ministrator at SEE, one of the largest labo- remembered as a visionary in the field of ratories in ARS, he tried to handle all aspects information retrieval. In his Presidential ad- of "red tape," leaving his scientists free to dress to the Entomological Society of concentrate on their work. Beyond his re- Washington in 1969, he spoke of a "catalog search, Dick also contributed to the advance- for all seasons," a comprehensive automat- ment of knowledge about flies in lots of little ed index to all systematic knowledge about ways, providing advice and encouragement insects. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, to many colleagues and students. He and Dick was a leader in bringing computer Martha loved to do things for others, such VOLUME 105, NUMBER 2 511 Top: Dick and Martha Foote at party hosted by Ray and Sally Gagne to celebrate publication of "The Handbook" (1993); in background (1 to r), Ron Hodges, Louie Blanc, and Al Stone. Bottom: Dick at work at "Adventures in Veneer" display. 512 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON as the wedding party they planned and host- tirement, family life and community in- ed for Elmo and Use Hardy, the guitar Dick volvement.