Timothy Foote (3 May 1926 - 21 December 2015) was a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-born American editor and writer.

Biography

He was educated at

Friends Seminary Friends Seminary is an independent K-12 school in Manhattan within the landmarked district in the East Village. The oldest continuously coeducational school in New York City, Friends Seminary serves 794 students in Kindergarten through Grade 1 ...

in New York, and graduated from Harvard in 1949, Summa Cum Laude and a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

. During World War Two, he interrupted his education to work as a radio operator on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. He was the author of two books, ''The World of Bruegel'' (1968) and ''The Great Ringtail Garbage Caper'' (1980) and several hundred articles and reviews on a wide range of subjects, variously published in ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', where he was a senior editor for 14 years, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Sunday Book Review'', ''Washington Post Book World'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'', ''

The American Scholar "The American Scholar" was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College at the First Parish in Cambridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was invited to speak in recognition of his gr ...

'' and ''

Smithsonian Magazine ''Smithsonian'' is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' maga ...

''. As his websit

points out, his topics ranged from the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, France and the French (he was a Paris-based foreign correspondent for six years), W.H. Auden, Harvard, the decline of quality in publishing, Border Collies, Midway Island, Gibraltar, Hadrian's Wall. His best-selling work is ''The World of Bruegel'' which deals with the life and work of

Pieter Bruegel the elder Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genr ...

, seen in the religious, artistic and historic context of 16th-century Europe, especially the Low Countries. ''The Great Ringtail Garbage Caper'' (1980) is a book for children of all ages. It tells of a group of raccoons who organize a hijacking plan when their regular food supply is put under threat by new, younger, more efficient garbage collectors. This was turned into a cartoon with the help of

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

, but thus far has not yet made it to release on DVD/Video formats. After retiring, Foote continued to write and was a contributor to ''

''. In the Autumn 2005 edition Foote wrote about his reporting in Israel and Lourdes with LIFE photographer

Alfred Eisenstaedt Alfred Eisenstaedt (December 6, 1898 – August 23, 1995) was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. He began his career in Germany prior to World War II but achieved prominence as a staff photographer for ''Life'' magazine af ...

.Foote, Timothy
Travels with Alfred: on assignment with one of the world's great photographers
Retrieved March 2011. Foote died on 21 December 2015 in Beaverkill, New York. He had been suffering from

mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The most common area affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lining ...

Bibliography

* Foote, Timothy (1968), ''The World of Bruegel c1525-1569'' ASIN: B000H3Q89C * Foote, Timothy (1980), ''The Great Ringtail Garbage Caper''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foote, Timothy Writers from Washington, D.C. American non-fiction writers 1926 births 2015 deaths British emigrants to the United States Harvard University alumni Friends Seminary alumni