Emily Elizabeth Foster (November 23, 1945 – September 9, 2023) was born in Tempe, Arizona, to her late parents Richard A. and Evelyn (Unger) Foster. After growing up in rural Vienna, Ohio, she attended Ohio State University where she earned a master’s degree in English. OSU and its environs became an integral part of her personal and professional life. There she met well-known Philosophy professor, Lee Brown, and they shared an adventurous life together until his death in 2014. Emily was the beating heart of the neighborhood where she lived in the same house near the university for 50 years, even writing the book on the history of the community: The Ohio State University District: A Neighborhood History. She applied her impeccable research and writing skills to author two additional books on Ohio History: American Grit: A Woman’s letters from the Ohio Frontier and The Ohio Frontier: An Anthology of Early Writings. She was elegant and earthy, stubborn and generous and, above all, fearless. She was as comfortable with a wine glass as a chainsaw. Emily was both worldly and down-to-earth, equally at ease with her neighbors in the Hocking Hills and the internationally famous. She was fascinated by people who were curious and passionate about learning, rather than the merely famous.

Emily loved the outdoors: visiting her primitive cabin in the Hocking Hills, and hiking around the world. She was especially proud of her extensive treks through the Pyrenees and the Himalayas. Evan Brown, her beloved stepson, recalls her as “a great nurturer” of all living things, most especially found cats and dogs, many of which she offered forever homes in her house over the years. She would even carefully transport errant ants inside her home back outside unharmed. Emily and Lee’s home was filled with parties and music, with Emily playing both flute and piano. She loved to laugh and came from a long line of jokesters, saying, “Everyone has lapses of taste, but better to laugh too often than too little.”

After working as a grant writer and freelancer, she joined Columbus Monthly as a staff writer in 1985 and became a senior editor a few years later. She covered such diverse topics as homes and civic issues, as well as writing personal essays and illuminating profiles. Following a brief return stint at Columbus Monthly, she joined Steiner-Lesic Communications in 2000 as vice  president and then moved to Ohio State as Associate Vice President, Communications, retiring in 2008. In addition to her parents, Emily was preceded in death by her husband, Lee Brown.

She is survived by stepson Evan Brown, brothers Richard (Linda) Foster Jr., Robert (Melissa) Foster, stepsister Jane (Chris) Walker, as well as nephews and nieces Gabriel Foster, Nicholas Foster, Henry Foster, Charles Foster, Margaret (Foster) Payne and Christine Foster. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Cat Welfare Association of Columbus.

For those unable to gather in person, a livestream will be accessible via Indianola Presbyterian Church’s links: The service is scheduled to begin at 2:30PM Eastern, November 12.

YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@indianolapres/streams and

Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/indianolapres