Foster L. Brown

1931 - 2017

Foster L. Brown

Oneonta - Foster Lloyd Brown, former Ithaca resident, professor and best-selling college textbook author, died Dec. 1, 2017, at Albany Medical Center, in Albany, N.Y., of complications following heart surgery. He was 86.

He was born May 26, 1931, in Wheeling, W.Va., to Durward Brown, a Methodist minister, and Dorothy Rine Brown, an author. Upon graduation from Shinnston (W.Va.) High School in 1949, he served in the Navy.

Degrees included a bachelor's in botany from West Virginia University in 1954; a master's in plant physiology, also from WVU in 1958; and a doctorate in statistical analysis from Cornell University in 1970, with post-doctoral research at the Imperial College London.

His co-authored book, "Statistical Concepts," published by Harper & Row, became the world's best-selling paperback textbook on statistics, according to the publisher.

Teaching was his passion. From 1956-58, he taught biological subjects at Bethany College (W.Va.). He then taught anatomy to nursing students for Penn State at Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pa. While a graduate student at Cornell in the early 1960s, he became a senior systems analyst for Cornell's computing center.

In 1964, he became a professor of statistics in psychology at SUNY Oneonta, where he taught a variety of subjects. Students knew him as an entertaining and kind professor. He refused repeated nominations for distinguished teaching awards. After retirement in 1995, he taught statistics during summers for another two decades as a professor emeritus.

He was a devoted husband, father and grandfather; lover of books, all things science, nature and future, history, bad puns, dancing, scuba diving, chess, Scrabble, music, theater, and Mel Brooks films. He possessed an indefatigable optimism and enthusiasm for learning. Foster was also an avid futurist, and early adopter of promising technologies. He served on several community boards.

He married first Barbara Feather, in 1956, and second Rita Shulman, in 1981. During retirement Foster and Rita enjoyed traveling and being with family, splitting time between Sarasota, Fla. and upstate New York.

He is survived by his wife, Rita; daughter, Celeste; son, Wendell (Cornell '82); stepchildren, Ginny, Paula, Emanuel; and Rebecca; grandson, Charles "Chase" (Cornell '19); stepgrandchildren, Michael, Anna, Hannah, Alex, and Michaela; brother, David; niece, Laurie; nephew, Ahmad; and numerous in-laws. He was predeceased by his parents; sister, Mary, and his first wife.

He had arranged that his body be given to Albany Medical Center for research.

A public Celebration of Life will be held 1-4 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018, in the Atrium at Fitzelle Hall at SUNY Oneonta. A private family celebration will follow on Foster's next birthday, May 26.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a scholarship for students at http://oneonta.edu/give, specifying the "Steven Edelstein '79 Scholarship in Honor of Dr. Foster Brown."

Remembrances may be expressed at http://memorialwebsites.legacy.com/fosterbrown/homepage.aspx online.