Foster was found dead yesterday at his home in Eureka Springs, AR. He was 64. Further details were not available as of publication time.
Self taught in herbal lore, photography
Foster, who was one of the very early contributors to HerbalGram, ABC’s peer reviewed journal, was a self-taught expert on botanicals. Despite having no advanced degree, Foster knew as much or more about the botany and uses of medicinal plants than did many academics, said ABC founder and executive director Mark Blumenthal.
And Foster cultivated a very close up and detailed style of botanical photography. His vivid and intimate portraits of plants could be compared at the same level to some of the great portrait photographers who chose people as their subjects, such as Annie Leibovitz or Richard Avedon.
Author of 19 books
“Steven was one of the most brilliant people in the entire American and international herb community. The author or co-author of 19 books and hundreds of articles, and a true master of the herbal literature, especially the Eclectic medical literature of the late 19th and early 20th century, Steven was also a renowned photographer of herbs and medicinal plants with an eye for beauty in every leaf and flower who was unparalleled in the global botanical community,” Blumenthal said.
“His keen eye for plants and his ability to photograph them produced a treasure of thousands of beautiful high-quality photos that graced the pages of numerous books and magazine articles,” he added.
ABC retrospective
According to ABC, Foster’s early education in the lore and uses of herbs could be traced to time spent in a Shaker community in Maine that was also coincidentally one of the oldest herbal businesses in the country, having been established in 1799.