NEW ORLEANS — Mary Foster, a veteran Associated Press reporter who wrote about everything from New Orleans’ love affair with food, Mardi Gras, and Saints football to Hurricane Katrina, has died. She was 68.

Her sister, Rosalie Foster, said she died Monday at her New Orleans home from complications of cancer that was diagnosed earlier this year. Ms. Foster was a native of Biloxi, Miss., and a graduate of Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts.

After working at newspapers, television, and radio stations, Ms. Foster joined AP’s New Orleans bureau in 1988. In 1992, she became a full-time sports writer, covering the Saints and other teams at a time when few female journalists were covering professional sports. A single mom, she often brought her two sons on assignment with her and put them to work helping to gather quotes at Saints and LSU games.

Her youngest son, Frankie Klug, said the Saints once handed out small towels for players to wear around their waists when his mother entered the locker room. She kept one of the ‘‘Mary Foster towels’’ in a frame. ‘‘It was kind of a joke, but she was proud of it,’’ said Klug.

After Katrina struck in 2005, Ms. Foster reported from the Superdome, where thousands of residents were trapped for days without food or water.

Besides her sister, from Cambridge, Mass., and her sons Foster and Frankie, Ms. Foster leaves two brothers and two grandchildren.