In Memory of Hal Foster

University of Idaho Media Writing Instructor Hal Foster has passed away. Foster worked as a journalist in Ukraine, Japan, Kazakhstan and various countries across Europe before becoming an instructor at UI in fall 2019. 

According to a Facebook post from Larry Luxner, Foster passed away June 11 from a relapse following a heart attack and stroke. His daughter was with him. 

“Shortly before that relapse, Hal wrote a glowing letter of recommendation for a medical reporting job I had applied for, and I thanked him for his help,” Luxner stated. “His reply: ‘I’ll always be there for you.’ That is the last text message I have from him.” 

Foster covered a variety of topics, including but not limited to business, culture, sports and science. He was a founding member of the English language Krakow Post and rewrote copy for the English edition of Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese publication with one of the highest circulations in the world. He covered the Kobe earthquake, the Rodney King riots and the fall of the Marcos government in the Philippines, according to his curriculum vitae. 

Last semester, Foster taught JAMM 121 Media Writing and JAMM 225 Reporting I. He ended the spring semester by encouraging students to write reflective pieces on how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced their lives. Several were printed in the Moscow Pullman Daily News. 

Clinical Associate Professor Steve Smith met Foster shortly before the fall 2019 semester started, when Smith picked him up at the airport in Spokane. As the two traded stories from their pasts, they found they had worked with many of the same companies. 

“(Hal) was a pro, journalism meant everything to him,” Smith said. “People of our age and our generation who spent our lives doing this work, we understand that.” 

Foster was a talkative person, Smith said. He loved to tell stories and could write stories as well as he could tell them. After the academic year concluded at UI, Foster had planned to visit family in Portland and hoped to retire to Vietnam or Thailand, Smith said. 

“They don’t build them like that anymore,” Smith said. 

John Gottberg Anderson met Foster in the 1970’s, when both men worked at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He wrote a Facebook post in honor of Foster. 

“My respect for him was sealed when he complimented a story I wrote about the notorious D.B. Cooper hijacking, calling my lead (“A fat yellow moon hung like a parachute over the waters of Lake Merwin”) one of the best he’d ever seen,” Anderson said. “We shared a love of travel and Third World cultures, and when our schedules meshed, we took short trips, such as weekends in Vancouver, Canada.”

UI Communications Director Jodi Walker shared a statement from the university regarding Foster’s passing as well. 

“We appreciate Hal’s commitment to our students and to the university this last year,” Walker said. “His vast experience brought depth to his teaching. We give our condolences to his family and to everyone feeling his loss.” 

Joey Cisneros contributed to this report. He can be reached at [email protected]

Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]

Editor’s Note: As many Argonaut employees are students in the University of Idaho Journalism and Mass Media Department, no Argonaut employee who has previously worked with Hal Foster as part of their curriculum has reported on this story.