Eugene Abram Foster

Eugene Abram Foster M.D

Eugene Abram Foster M.D., died Monday, July 21, 2008, at age 81, at the University of Virginia Medical Center with his loving family around him, his wife Jane, his three children, Susannah of Culver City, California, Ethan of Sedona, Arizona, and Rebecca of Charlottesville.

He is also survived by his brother, Roger, of Long Beach, New York, Susannah's husband, Peter Baxendale and their children, Miranda and Timothy, by Rebecca's husband, Brian Pusser, Ethan's wife, Susan Foster, and two daughters Heidi and Sarah, and close friend Cindy Silveira.

Gene had a satisfying career as a Pathology Professor at University of Virginia Medical School and at Tufts University New England Medical Center and enjoyed a long happy life with Jane and family and friends. They took many trips to Europe and Colorado and to family in California, and enjoyed their life in Charlottesville and Boston.

In his retirement he did an important study of the DNA of descendants of Sally Hemings and the Jefferson family. His research added significantly to the scientific understanding of the relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Prior to Gene's research, it was believed that some of Sally Hemings's children were fathered by Jefferson's Carr nephews. The DNA evidence linked the Jefferson male chromosome to some of the Hemings descendants. Most historians now think that Thomas was the only Jefferson male available at all of Sally's conceptions.

Gene was born and ra ised in the Bronx, New York, and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1943. He attended college and medical school at Washington University in St Louis for eight years where he met his future wife, Jane Brown. He was starting his internship in Salt Lake City General Hospital when he was drafted by the military. He urged Jane to return from France where she was working, and they were married on February 25, 1952, at the Salt Lake City Hall by a justice of the peace who happened to be a Mormon Bishop. His military duty was with the United States Public Health Service on Indian reservations for three years in South Dakota and North Dakota where Susannah and Ethan were born. Then came three years of Pathology residencies in Boston where Rebecca was born, and finally a year of Surgical Pathology in St. Louis.

The family arrived in Charlottesville in 1959, where Gene joined the University of Virginia Pathology Depart-ment and was lucky enough to get a house in faculty resi-dences at Mimosa Drive where they found many of the wonderful friends they have had for 49 years. In 1976 the children had grown up and gone, so Gene joined the Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston where he and Jane could enjoy big city pleasures for 14 years: ethnic restau-rants, museums, sailing on the Charles River, early music concerts, and lots of good friends.

In 1990 Gene retired and they came home to their house and friends in Charlottesville which had become much more like a big city with more music, and drama and a variety dining options. They began a busy life volunteering in Democratic and Civil Rights activities, Monticello Area Community Action Agency (MACAA), and other worthy causes. Gene especially enjoyed his many years of reading for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.

The family wants to thank all the staff on 3 East at the University Hospital for their warm, intelligent care of Gene in the final week of his illness.

No memorial service is planned, but we welcome letters and visits from friends. Memorial contributions to MACAA or to other worthy causes will be appreciated.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.