JOHN KOSTER
special contributor John Peter Koster, 78, among this magazine’s most prolific writers, died on Dec. 8, 2023, in Ridgewood, N.J. Born in Baltimore on June 5, 1945, Koster grew up in Wood-Ridge, N.J., graduated from Montclair State University and started his career as a reporter for three New Jersey newspapers, including (which he co-founded with wife Shizuko). One of his first articles in was the June 2007 feature “Survivor Frank Finkel’s Lasting Stand,” in which Koster contended Finkel was the only known survivor of Lt. Col. George Custer’s immediate command at the June 25–26, 1876, Battle of the Little Bighorn. In 2010 he wrote the related book and in 2011 he talked up Finkel in the documentary . Koster authored nearly a dozen books, and many of his articles for and sister publications remain available on . Editor Dave Lauterborn and editor emeritus Greg Lalire extend to the Koster family our condolences on his passing.
