Mr. Richard Hauer Costa,97, of New Hartford,NY, departed this life  on Tuesday May 21,2019 with his wife and son by his side.

He was born in Philadelphia, PA the son of the late Leonard and Marie Hauer Costa.

He is survived by his beloved wife Marie Jo B.  Costa and his son Philip H.  Costa.

Richard's Celebration of life will be held at 2:30 p.m.on Tuesday May 28, 2019 at the John L Matt Funeral Home, 3309 Oneida Street,Chadwicks,NY

To send an online greeting go to: www.johnlmattfuneralhome.com

… Edited By Philip H. Costa

Mr. Richard Hauer (Dick) Costa, Ph.D., 97, a writer and teacher who arrived in Utica in 1948 at age 26. He moved to Texas after twenty-two years , but considered the Mohawk Valley his adoptive home, died unexpectedly at St. Elizabeth's Med. Ctr. in Utica. Professor Costa remained active into his nineties.

In 2012 he formed a writers club at Preswick Glen where he lived with his wife, devoted to aiding members improve their skills. When Dick underwent open-heart surgery in 2012, his wife, Jo, a former English teacher, took over the class.

It was for his semi-daily human-interest column, The Costa-Living, in the O-D (1958-61), for which he was best known locally. He wrote three times weekly for a total of over 500 columns while taking on other assignments daily. U.C. Prof. Raymond Simon's Principles of Journalism students at Utica College conducted a scientific readership survey that placed Costa –Living as most read in the O-D.

In 1957, Dick wrote a four –part front –page series "Skid Row in Utica" reprinted in 2004 from which a drifter, known as "Curly" emerged as a rehab project for Dick and others for nearly two years. Dick also won a plaque for essays honoring National Newspaper Week and a state award from then- Governor Harriman for his series on the migration of Puerto Ricans to Utica. After leaving the O-D, he began a 30-year teaching calling, first at Utica College then would take the Costas to Purdue and Texas A&M Universities.

Dick originally joined U. C. in its fourth seminar- February 1948- but not in the classroom, but as U. C's first Director of public relations. On June 10, 1950, he married Marie Jo Basilio of Utica. On August 3, 1955, Philip H. Costa, their only child was born, a graduate of Rice University with a degree in Biochemistry and a Peace Corps Volunteer, St. Kitts & Nevis, Eastern Caribbean.

After a decade on the O-D, Dick returned to Utica College as an assistant professor of journalism and English in 1961, the year U.C. moved from Oneida Square to its expanded campus on Burrstone Rd. From 1961-64 he taught in both departments before moving full-time into literary studies. Dick holds a M.A. from Syracuse U. and a Ph D in Modern Literature from Purdue U.

He began book publishing in 1967 with a critical biography of H. G. Wells, which he

revised and up dated 18 years later. His seven books include:

Our Neighbor from Talcottville ( Syracuse U., 1980) a memoir of Edmund Wilson, regarded as Our Last Man of Letters, based on a 10- year friendship;

An Appointment with Somerset Maugham & Other Literary Encounters; essays; based on a visit Maugham in his home in Mallorca to which we were invited, critical biographies of novelists Malcom Lowry and Alison Lurie and "Safe at Home" an autobiography of baseball wife Sharon Hargrove. All his books were soon out of print, but with a search on the Internet, all of them can be found and bought.

Dick regarded his transition from being a writing person to being a teaching person as "my severest challenge.' It took me about twelve years and lots of patience- not my strong suit. I tended to over- prepare, look at the back wall, and lecture." He agreed with his friend and colleague, the late Virgil Crisafulli who wrote in Reflections, his books on the early years at U.C.: "There may be born writers; there are a few teachers."

In fact, Dick adds, again quoting Cris: "You are on stage, front and center, on display…(and glad for) the times when you are saved by the bell." He saw only one solution, he would have to reinvent himself.

Professor Costa was born in Philadelphia on July 5, 1921, the son of Leonard A. Costa, of Philadelphia and Marie Hauer Costa, of Lebanon,PA. He and Josephine his only sibling, were raised fatherless by their working mother, who worked for Curtis Publishing Company as an artist and an engraver, in Upper Darby, PA.

Dick attended elementary, junior, and senior high schools in Upper Darby before enrolling at west Chester (PA.) State College (now West Chester U..) in 1939. His war-time degree and editorship of the campus newspaper, "Quad Angels" which he edited, had won two first places among college newspapers in its class.

In 1963 Dick became the first member of his Class of '43 to join the ranks of Distinguished Alumni. Dick described his 37 months on active duty as "undistinguished and lucky." He studied Italian for a year in the Army specialized Training (ASTP) and learned enough to be assigned as interpreter with "co-belligerents"(so named after the defeat of Italy). Due to allied casualities in the Battle of the Bulge,he was reassigned to the infantry, served 62 days under fire as a riflemen replacement with the 99 ^th Infantry Division. He participated in the first Allied crossing of the Rhine River at Remagen-an action some analysts say shortened the war. He remained in the Reserves, served as Public Information Officer of Utica's 414 ^th Military Government Unit after being commissioned in 1950. Captain Costa (USAR) retired in 1964 after twenty  years combined service.

Dick enrolled in journalism at Syracuse and earned a MA. He taught five courses. This one Evening Division class proved life-changing. Age 29 and single, Dick began dating Marie Jo Basilio, one of his students, whome he married on June 10,1950 in the of St. Agnes Church with the Rev. Joseph May, officiating. Dick often said Jo was "a devoted caretaker who has seen us through good times and bad."

In 1965, he took a two year unpaid leave to complete doctoral residency requirements at Purdue, West Lafayette, IN, for a Ph.D. in modern literature. He regarded his time at Purdue as his most focused. Dick returned to Utica College to write his disseration on Malcolm Lowry's tragic novel, Under the Volcano. He finished the degree in 1969 at 48

From Purdue, Dick and Marie Jo brought to UC, Quartet, a magazine of the arts that, for a decade, had published poems, stories and the visual arts of painting and sculpture.

On 15 June 1995, Dr. Costa delivered the 32 ^nd annual E. Prentiss Bailey Memorial lecture at the Oneida County Historical society. He gave 'dedicated service' to Utica's Volunteer Reading Program and counseled Hamiliton College students with final papers (AO Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program).

Progressing slowly in a dfficult transition, Professor Costa came to realize that in Utica, no matter how many books he published he would always be summed up, even by some colleagues, as that fellow who wrote the column. Besides identity problems, Dick had always looked forward to teaching graduate students at a large university.

In 1970, Dick, whose publications since the HG Wells book included four essays in Nation, four in Nieman Reports at Harvard, a lead review in The New York Times and scholary essays on modernists, James Joyce, DH Lawrence,Virginia Woolf and TS Eliot, received an offer he could not refuse from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.

While he could not have known it when he, Marie Jo and Philip,15,moved to College Station "Aggieland", in 1970, he and Texas A&M proved a good fit. In 1975 the Modern Language Association (MLA) moved to the directorate of its regional affiliate- South Central MLA (serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and the western half of Tennessee ) – from Rice to A&M, Dr. Costa was appointed executive director. He headed SCMLA for six years, organizing yearly meetings in Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Hot Springs, Memphis and Tulsa.

Returning to full time teaching in 1981, he gained the first two students-genertated awards for distinguished teaching. Earlier in what he called his most "most memorable evening" he arranged for a reading by Pultzer Prize poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, before an overflow audience of 45, including eight bus loads from Praire View A&M, a branch college of Texas A&M attended by many African American students.

Dick is survived by his wife, Marie Jo B. Costa, his son Philip H. Costa, one sister-in-law, and eight nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held Tuesday, May 28 at 2:30 p.m. at the John L Matt Funeral Home, 3309 Oneida St. Chadwicks,NY. donations may be made in Dick's name to the Steven-Swan Humane Society. Envelopes will be available at the service. Or donations may be made to the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Utica.