In Memoriam: Thomas Anthony ‘John’ Forster, A Private, Principled Man Of The Town Of Homes

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Forster’s grandfather, on his mother’s side, also worked at Royal Dutch. His mother was described as a formidable woman who devoted time to raising money for the war effort and visiting wounded soldiers before John came into the world.

Life In America

After John was born, the family moved to Montreal, Canada.

John came to America to attend college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering in 1967. He went on to earn other degrees, including electrical and mechanical engineering.

While at MIT, John was actively involved in dynamic astronomy, understanding forces in motion, orbits, and the rotation of products and technology. He also worked on water turbines to generate power, run motors, and instrumentation work. John performed lab work at MIT for the government, including inertial navigation for the Apollo program, and Draper was the prime contractor.

One project John worked on was a sextant for the Apollo.

Sextants were used on ships and boats to measure the angles between the stars and the horizon to set navigation. The sextant was built into the walls of the spacecraft and was used to determine its navigation. This would allow astronauts to set and correct the course of the rockets by measuring the ship’s orbit and placement with the Moon, Earth, the Sun, and stars. His work in electro-optics also discovered several unconventional uses for ultraviolent light, infrared, and wavelengths not visible to the human eye.

Photos from John Forster’s memorial service at the MIT Chapel on May 11, including a picture of John, after he graduated from MIT, with his father. Credit: Tony Schinella/Patch

After Apollo, John went out on his own with several friends and associates at Draper, founding Scientific Imaging Systems Inc., expanding electro-optics — taking very faint light sources in space beyond what was seen from an ordinary telescope and transforming the data digitally.

The work often had military applications, and the company was doing things that would lead to the commercialization of digital photography. One camera collected particles and photons with each pixel, sensing the circuit in the camera based on the light source and collecting many photons. This was decades ahead of the state-of-the-art digital cameras of today.

The company, however, dissolved later without bringing any products to market.

A Critical Belmontian

John moved to Belmont in August 1976, living first on Concord Avenue and, later, Crestview Drive on Belmont Hill, near Chuck Counselman, one of his professors at MIT, in June 1987.

Counselman invented the macro-meter interferometric surveyor, the technology that later became commonly known as global positioning systems, and other patents. He sold the GPS patent early in the game to Litton Industries-Northrup Grumman but worked for them as a contractor. Counselman and an attorney hunted down various companies that stole his patents, winning nearly every lawsuit. At one point, John went to work with Counselman as a contractor, assisting in proving the other companies were stealing the technology. One task they needed to do was to get around the epoxy plastic to see inside the counterfeit devices without destroying the transistors to gather the proof. John had a telescope-like device Counselman had never seen before that accessed the inside of the units and identified the silicon chip and part numbers without damaging the devices.

After being hired and doing the work, John refused to bill for his services, turning down fees in the high five figures (or six figures today). The reason? He did not want to give the company any of his personal identifying information.

John never had a credit card and tried to stay under the radar and off the grid. This required relying on friends to access things he needed but could not get without credit or debit cards. Those same friends would be involved in conversations and communications for years, even decades, via email threads and chat boards with John, creating long friendships.

John was described as principled, private, and an occasional political prankster. While living in town, he was involved in a few kerfuffles and lawsuits, including one case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Photos from John Forster’s memorial service at the MIT Chapel on May 11. Credit: Tony Schinella/Patch

Several Lawsuits

In May 1996, the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints applied to build a temple on Belmont Hill with the Angel Moroni on top of the building.

But the height of the spire would be taller than the allowed zoning. The spire was reduced slightly.

Blasting caused several issues in the neighborhood, including strewn debris, and a work permit was revoked until the problems could be resolved. After a hearing and approval by the zoning board of appeals, abutters, and others sued to overturn the approval, calling the state’s Dover Amendment a violation of the separation of church and state. A U.S. District Court judge in May 1999 ruled the Dover Amendment constitutional, but a superior court revoked the approval. The church appealed, and a federal circuit court agreed with them. John and others petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, and in January 2001, after being constructed, the court refused to hear the case. Five months later, the state supreme judicial court overturned the county court decision, and the Angel Moroni was placed atop the temple in September 2001.

The temple was the Mormon’s 100th.

Many Belmontians accused John of fighting the temple because he was discriminatory. While he was not religious or spiritual in any way, he maintained publicly and privately the case was about an exception for religious organizations that ordinary people could never receive.

Another lawsuit involved the height of lights on the Belmont High School football field on Concord Avenue.

John and others filed a case in Middlesex County Superior Court after the town’s zoning board of appeals allowed the school committee to install lights more than 20 feet high. John, who owned property across the street, said he opposed the lights because they would bother him when shone into his home. The filers also challenged information at the proceedings, saying they were not appropriately consulted, among other issues.

Many in town saw the lawsuit as an attack against students and football, a common theme in Belmont — anyone who challenges anything connected to the school system was not seen as just a critic but, instead, a child hater. While some committee members admitted neighbors would be upset and that was how things were, John said the project was railroaded through.

In the end, the lights were installed. But it did not matter because John no longer lived at the address. Unbeknownst to many residents then, it had essentially become his storage space. Regardless, the principle was no other entity in the community would be allowed to get a waiver on the light height like that.

Another issue was a change to the town’s noise bylaw that allowed much higher sound levels at earlier times of the day.

Landscape and construction companies wanted to start their work earlier in the day. There was a balance between wanting to be “The Town of Homes” and being able to get projects completed and jobs done.

At a public hearing in January 2002, John set up a pair of speakers in the room to replicate the level of sound produced so committee members would hear audio evidence of the level of sound the new bylaw would allow.

A photo from the Belmont Citizen-Herald from January 2002 at a Noise Bylaw hearing taken by Sue Sickler.

A board member, Guy Carbone, a Democrat turned Republican who unsuccessfully ran for attorney general, Congress, and state Senate, said John should be banned from testifying because he would not reveal his residency for the record. John countered Carbone was trying to violate the state’s open meeting law and was allowed to proceed.

First, John played a videotape of a rock drill at 65 decibels, the allowable noise level at the time. It was so loud committee members began to cover their ears, and John had to shout to speak over the noise. Carbone made a stink about the presentation, but others booed him down in attendance. John then increased the volume to 90 decibels while Counselman, who was on the committee, held a noise meter showing other members the new allowable level. John then played a hoe ramp and an audio tone generator — creating a high-pitched buzzing sound at both levels.

At that point, Gladys Unger, the committee chairwoman, had enough and requested John turn off the noise.

“Thank you, madam chairman,” he said, shutting off the speakers. “You have made my exact point.”

A photo from the Belmont Citizen-Herald from January 2002 by Sue Sickler at a Noise Bylaw hearing.

In the end, the committee approved the change and Town Meeting did, too, with only a smattering of voice votes saying No.

Another incident that ripped the town apart was Romney’s return to town in March 2002 after spending three years successfully turning around the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the wake a bribery and ethics scandal probe of the Olympics committee.

Town officials, including the then-chairman of the Board of Selectmen, William Monahan, another former Democrat turned Republican who was in a brutal reelection campaign, held a rally in the center of town. What was not known at the time was behind the scenes, forces were working to push the acting governor, Jane Swift, out of office. Romney had made statements months before he would not challenge a sitting Republican governor.

On the day of the rally, wet, heavy snow fell on Belmont as hundreds of people welcomed the Romneys home.

But the “welcome home” event quickly turned into what appeared to be a political event.

During the presentation, Monahan presented Romney with a box of sneakers and stated, “Run, Mitt, Run.” Others in the crowd had pulled out their Romney for Senate campaign signs when he lost to U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994 and covered the word “Senate” with “Governor.” At least one “Run Mitt, Run” sign was hung on a town government building.

The next day, after a devastating poll showed Romney trouncing Swift by more than 60 points, she said she would not run. A few hours later, Romney announced his run for governor.

Many, including John, were incensed.

Questions began to fly around about how much town taxpayers paid for the dozens of cops working parking and traffic details, other town and school employees working that day, and the sound system rented by the town. Several politically left-of-center parents of Belmont High School band students who performed at the event were upset their children were at what appeared to be a partisan event.

The total bill for expenses, estimated by the Belmont Citizen-Herald, which turned out to be off, was in the $3,000 range, or around $5,500 in 2024 dollars.

The controversy dragged on for weeks, with John and others fanning the flames.

The town’s next Board of Selectmen erupted in back-and-forth accusations about the event right before the town election. John, Counselman, and others criticized the leaders for turning the event into a political rally, refusing to answer or confirm costs estimated by the newspaper, and hiding from possible state conflict of interest violations. The leaders defended themselves, saying it was not planned to be a political event.

Fearing there might be volatility at the meeting, a few Belmont police officers, including Monahan’s son, were in attendance. Monahan called the event a nice gesture for the Romneys and said no one officially organized it. During the discussion, he also downplayed the costs. But John countered the money would have been better spent filling potholes in the town’s notoriously bad streets and roads.

One Town Meeting member in attendance, Dante Muzzioli, a long-time Belmont High School hockey coach involved in the football light installation project, called the critics “a poison pill to this community.” Monahan had to call the meeting to order several times because attendees, including Muzzi and John, were yelling at each other.

John said to Monahan during the meeting, “I have come up here repeatedly because the bylaws in this town are selectively enforced to the benefit of the friends of the selectmen, time and time again.” Monahan spat back, “You can say whatever you want, but don’t try to impugn my integrity.”

A week later, Monahan lost reelection to Dr. Paul Solomon.

A week after that, Romney became the Republican nominee for governor.

The Citizen-Herald published articles showing the Romney campaign gave consultant Mike Murphy $11,300 ($20K today) to have the event recorded. Weeks before the rally, the Romney campaign spent $18,000 ($32K today) on polling. One outstanding expense was the lighting and sound company that staged the event, which was owed $7,300. Taggert Romney, acting as a liaison between his father, the campaign, volunteers, Murphy, and others, was reimbursed for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses, including hotel rooms and other items.

According to records, Romney was not a very good voter — missing eight elections between 1996 and 2002.

In February 2008, when Romney’s first bid for the presidency was fizzling out, John privately submitted a photo to the Citizen-Herald of a trashcan with a “Romney for President” sign with dollar bills inside taken outside of the governor’s Marsh Road home at the time with the words, “A Sign Of The Times?” It was published on the Comment page.

A photo used as an editorial in a February 2008 edition of the Belmont Citizen-Herald. Credit: Tony Schinella/Patch

John was also involved in a long-time fight with the town over meter reading and billing by the water department at his two Belmont homes (including one that, again, was essentially a storage space and had limited-to-no water usage).

The town issued bills for water and sewer based on estimated usage because he would not allow them onto his property to be measured. When he refused to pay the bills, they were doubled and redoubled, and soon, the town tax collector went after him.

At one point, the bills reached more than $57,000 — a ridiculous amount of money for a water bill on two homes, even if a family lived in Belmont for decades, never mind a single person. John paid some of the bills but later stopped. He claimed he stopped paying due to overbilling, “inflated” and “fraudulent” costs, and “bogus readings.” John claimed the town owed him more than $20,000. A water meter was eventually replaced on the Concord Avenue address.

In one of its decisions on the matter, the court said John was responsible for paying the bill and then seeking relief from the courts.

A few years later, the town sued John for violating town bylaws by having unregistered vehicles at his home on Crestview Drive. This ridiculous requirement violated a town bylaw.

In September 2009, another controversy arose — whether Kennedy had influence over the placement of the Angel Moroni on top of the Belmont Temple.

At Kennedy’s funeral, the late Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, stated he called Kennedy to ask for assistance in the case, and, at another meeting, Kennedy told him, “All of Western Massachusetts will see the Angel” on top of the temple. On a Utah Policy blog post two days before the funeral, Jared Whitley, a former Hatch staffer, also claimed the senators met in 2006 to discuss health care policy, and during the conversation, Kennedy quipped he was responsible for installing the spire.

John and others were surprised by the comments, but they also confirmed their suspicions the fix was in on the temple lawsuits. They were surprised the justices seemed disinterested in the facts of the case and sympathetic toward the church’s arguments. John was particularly disappointed since advocates argued one way at the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court level and another at the U.S. Supreme Court, he said at the time.

“The neighbors went to the courts expecting a fair hearing and a decision based on the law and the Constitution,” he wrote in an email. “It is distressing to learn that powerful senators moved behind the scenes to deny (us) due process.”

A spokeswoman for the MA SJC denied the claims, saying no calls were made to the courts about the case. Kennedy’s office refused requests for comment.

Tinkering And Generosity

Throughout his life, John was obsessive about tinkering and fixing things, often injecting new life into stuff that no longer worked.

In his idle years, he bought stuff manically, all treasures to him, but he was also frugal. Later, he volunteered for Battleship Cove, the U.S. Navy memorial museum, restoring electronics on the battleship Massachusetts. John also worked to restore old war and military radios and conversed with others involved in radio technology online.

After being diagnosed with diabetes and attempting to recover from medical procedures, John moved into a hotel in Burlington near the Leahy Clinic to be as close to doctors as possible. He did not know at the time he would spend many years living there. Friends would visit him and assist him with projects and tending to his properties. He was grateful for their time and generous, too, with his. Many hotel staff got to know him well, and he often praised them for taking such good care of him.

John dispersed money to his family, friends, business associates, and organizations in his estate. He also bequeathed funds to the hotel staff, housekeepers, and cooks. His estate will establish a fund for any staffers he may have not named.

Memorials were held for John on May 11 at the MIT Chapel with family and friends and on Aug. 10 at a luncheon in Waltham with caretakers, friends, and neighbors. Many of his friends noted how odd it was their friendships with John had all been kept separate after years.

Even in death, John worked toward preserving his privacy and principles: As part of his estate, he established a sub-trust of $250,000 for an attorney to pursue a lawsuit against the town of Belmont “for slander of title related to water and sewer liens on my Belmont property.”

Here’s hoping the town agrees to settle the matter once and for all.

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