Baton Rouge, LA – The family of Dr. Lane Douglas Foil of Baton Rouge is saddened to announce his passing on June 22, 2025 at the age of 76 years, following a short illness. Lane was born to Ray and Emogene Foil on June 16, 1949 in Union, Mississippi. He lived in various southern towns including Shreveport and Laurel, Mississippi where he attended high school and played basketball for the Laurel Tornadoes. A childhood anecdote when Lane was about six indicates his charming ability to get things done. One summer he visited a neighbor’s home and found a kitchen counter full of freshly picked peaches. He asked his neighbor what day it was and was told “Thursday.” His eyes lit up, he patted his stomach, and said, “I love peaches on Thursdays.” Lane graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Zoology from Auburn University. At Auburn, he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. After graduation he moved to Jackson, Mississippi where he was employed as the Zoologist for the Jackson Zoological Park. This job led to many interesting encounters with exotic animals, including raising baby animals at home. One locally famous story involved raising a baby wallaroo for 7 months. The story was followed by Southern Living, the Clarion Ledger, and an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Soon Lane’s passion for education and research led to earning a Master’s Degree in Science in Preventive Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1975. His major professor was Dr. Hugh Keegan, a well-known publisher in the field of Tropical Medicine. In 1978, Lane achieved a Ph.D. in Medical Entomology at Mississippi State University. His doctoral dissertation researched the venom of the brown recluse spider. This also involved the hair-raising task of collecting the spider itself from the nooks and crannies of long deserted shacks in the Mississippi countryside. As if this wasn’t dangerous enough, once he was mistaken as a person who had been stealing government checks from locals, and had to exit a ramshackle empty home (with his spiders) at gunpoint from sheriff’s deputies.
After graduating from MSU, Lane began his long and distinguished career as a professor in Veterinary Entomology at Louisiana State University. During his more than forty-five years at the University he taught and mentored students, obtained numerous research grants (over 30 totaling approximately $7.7 million), obtained four US patents in areas such as vaccinating companion animals for ticks, published 12 book chapters and invited contributions, and had over 170 publications in refereed journals. In 2006nLane received the Doyle Chambers Research Award for meritorious contributions to agriculture. An article in the 2019 issue of Louisiana Agriculture stated, “Foil has been recognized for a career marked by a sometimes ‘unconventional approach’ to research that has yielded practical solutions that have been adopted across the globe.” In 2013 Lane was named to the Pennington Chair for Wildlife Research at the Bob R. Jones Idlewild Research Station in Clinton, Louisiana. As the recipient Lane focused his research on developing solutions for problems that affect the health and abundance of wildlife, such as hemorrhagic disease in deer. Lane continued his brilliant career in studying insect vectors as disease carriers and their economic costs. He was still working until a few months prior to his passing, indicating his commitment to research, science, and mentoring the next generation to carry on his legacy.
Even though he was a dedicated scientist, Lane found time for fun. Friends knew him as a down-to-earth, fun-loving companion with a dry wit and passionate love of the outdoors. Most who met him outside of academia would have never guessed his education or achievements. As a young man, Lane enjoyed bird hunting in Mississippi and Louisiana, particularly for duck and geese. He participated in Field Trials with his champion Labrador Retrievers, Itch and Tink.
Gradually Lane’s interests shifted to fishing, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico. The Louisiana state record for a Mako Shark caught on rod and reel is 765 pounds, caught by Lane in 2006. Lane especially enjoyed a trip to Venezuela with his daughter where he caught the Marlin “grand slam.”
Lane will be missed greatly by his daughter, Dr. Allison Foil an equine veterinarian in Ocala Florida and graduate of LSU’s School of Veterinary Medicine, his grandson Benjamin Lane Foil who knew him as “Pops,” his older brother Mike Foil, an architect in Jackson, Mississippi, his niece Hadleigh Foil of Birmingham, Alabama, and his long- term partner and colleague, Dr. Claudia Husseneder, Professor of Entomology at LSU. A memorial for Lane Is planned at a later date. Those who loved Lane, in the words of his brother, know that he “sailed away in search of another big fish.”
