Stephen Collins Foster was a son of Pittsburgh whose music captured the rhythms of this river city, but it was Fletcher Hodges Jr., an Indiana native, who captured Foster's work for the ages.

Fletcher Hodges Jr. Click photo for larger image.

Mr. Hodges, the original curator of the Foster Hall Collection at the University of Pittsburgh, died yesterday at his Oakmont home five months shy of his 100th birthday.

His death followed by three months that of his wife, Margaret, 94, author of more than 50 books for children.

The couple came to Pittsburgh from Indianapolis in 1937, when Mr. Hodges transferred the collection of the composer's materials owned by Josiah Lilly to Pitt.

Mr. Lilly, owner of the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company in Indianapolis, hired Mr. Hodges to build a Foster archive of sheet music, recordings, family history and other documents that had reached more than 20,000 items by the mid-1930s, said Dean Root, Mr. Hodges' successor.

Seeking a job with Mr. Lilly's company as the Depression worsened, Mr. Hodges was turned down.

In a recorded interview with Mr. Root in 1982, Mr. Hodges recalled: "As I was leaving, he pulled a sheet of music out of his desk and he said, 'Do you know anything about this?' It was a copy of 'My Old Kentucky Home,' and I believed that it was the work of Stephen Collins Foster.

"Mr. Lilly said ... that he was engaged in working on a collection of Foster's music and that he would be pleased if I might help him for three months if I wished to do so. Those three months turned into 51 years."

Thanks to his friendship with John Bowman, the Pitt chancellor who built the Cathedral of Learning, Mr. Lilly donated his collection to the university, to be housed in the Stephen Foster Memorial on the cathedral grounds along Forbes Avenue. Mr. Hodges retained his curatorship in the move.

In building and managing the collection, Mr. Hodges became the nation's leading expert on Foster, a pioneer of American popular music in the years before the Civil War.

Mr. Hodges was not only "meticulous in his organization" of the growing Foster collection, said Mr. Root, but a friendly and welcoming host for visitors at Foster Hall.

"So many, many people in Pittsburgh remember Fletcher with fondness," recalled Mr. Root who replaced Mr. Hodges when he retired in 1982.

Mr. Hodges remained a primary source on the Pittsburgh composer for historians, musicologists and documentary filmmakers following his retirement, Mr. Root said.

The Foster collection became an integral part of the Center for American Music at Pitt in 1996. Three years later, the university created the Fletcher Hodges Jr. Curatorship Endowment, with Mr. Root as the endowed curator.

Mr. and Mrs. Hodges, frequent travelers following his retirement, were both awarded honorary doctorates from Point Park University in 2003.

Surviving are three sons, Fletcher III of New York City, Arthur of Boston and John of Washington, D.C.; nine grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held this spring at Calvary Episcopal Church, Shadyside. Memorial contributions may be made to Pitt and designated for The Foster Hall Collection, 271 Hillman Library, University of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh 15260