Foote, Richard H.

Richard Foote is remembered as an authority on the taxonomy of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae). He was born on May 2, 1918 in Bozeman, Montana, and graduated from Montana State University in 1941 before serving in the armed forces during World War II. He earned a Sc.D. in parasitology from Johns Hopkins University in 1952 and immediately joined the United States Department of Agriculture in what was to become the Systematic Entomology Laboratory. Although initially working on mosquitoes, he soon devoted himself to tephritid fruit flies. He devoted his entire career to this agency, and is perhaps best known for his 1993 publication, “Handbook of the Fruit Flies of America North of Mexico.” Foote is also known for his early acceptance and promotion of computers for entomological data retrieval. He was active in society activities, particularly in journal editing, and served as president of several scientific societies. He died on February 9, 2002.