Jane Howard; Margaret Mead Biographer

Jane Howard, 61, biographer whose best-known book was “Margaret Mead: a Life,” published in 1984. As the daughter of a Chicago Tribune reporter growing up in Winnetka, Ill., Howard became interested in journalism at an early age. After majoring in English at the University of Michigan, she wrote profiles for Life magazine. Fascinated with why people decide to do what they do, she concentrated on writing about writers, including Saul Bellow, John Updike and Truman Capote. She interviewed about 300 people and traveled halfway around the world to research the definitive book on Mead. Other books were “A Different Woman,” about feminism, and “Families,” which she researched by visiting dozens of households. She often taught writing in universities, including Yale and Columbia. On Thursday in New York City of cancer.