{"id":97765,"date":"2025-12-17T04:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T04:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/97765\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T04:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T04:24:08","slug":"csulb-remembers-former-mayor-csu-trustee-as-education-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/97765\/","title":{"rendered":"CSULB remembers former mayor, CSU trustee as education advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Former Long Beach mayor and Long Beach State Foundation member Bob Foster was a major supporter of education, according to CSULB Foundation board chair Ken Miller. Photo courtesy of News Media Services at CSULB<\/p>\n

Former Long Beach mayor, Long Beach State Foundation member and CSU trustee Bob Foster is remembered for his contributions to CSULB education and athletics, as well as years-long city leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Foster, who created the James Foster Endowed Scholarship<\/a> in 2024, died in a hospital on Nov. 30 at 78.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved making a difference in young people\u2019s lives and their education,\u201d said Ken Miller, board chair of the CSULB Foundation, which oversees the donor stewardship and the university\u2019s endowment. CSULB relies on the funding to maintain arts, athletics and academic programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miller worked directly with Foster over 15 years, serving on the presidential selection committee that hired former President Jane Close Conoley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter persuading him to join the foundation board (he really did not like meetings in general), he became a significant donor for the second time to our university despite not graduating from here,\u201d Miller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Foster\u2019s love for baseball and the San Francisco Giants was known to many. It was something he and his late son, James, loved to do together, according to Miller. James played for the Pacific Little League team from Sacramento, where Bob acted as a coach, going on to the Little League World Series in 1983.<\/p>\n

Foster and his wife created the James Foster Endowed Scholarship in memory of their late son, who died from health issues in 2023. The scholarship supports the university\u2019s baseball program and grants student athletes the opportunity to play at CSULB while completing their education.<\/p>\n

From 2006 to 2014, Foster guided the city through a tough economic state during the 2008 recession. He would leave the city with a record surplus, stabilizing the city\u2019s financial situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayor Bob Foster served Long Beach with steady leadership and a deep love for our community \u2026 he guided our city through challenging times with honesty, courage and a clear sense of responsibility,\u201d said Mayor Rex Richardson in the city\u2019s press release<\/a>. \u201cLong Beach is stronger because of his service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster is survived by his wife, Nancy, as well as two children and three grandchildren.<\/p>\n

In the press release, the city remembered Foster as a great leader with a deep love for the city. Richardson praised Foster\u2019s work and his accomplishments, and sent his condolences to Nancy and the family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Foster was an intellectual and active reader who could talk about ancient Roman history, economic theory, government or sports, according to Miller.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe held deep convictions in many areas, and you would always come away with having learned something when spending time with him,\u201d Miller said. \u201cHe was the fascinating guest at [a] lunch or dinner party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster had experienced health issues for some years, as mentioned in a letter Miller sent to the foundation board.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBob was at heart a very sweet and caring gentleman, especially to Nancy and they truly enjoyed an amazing life of accomplishments, travel and meeting the most accomplished people in the worlds of politics, business, sports and the arts,\u201d Miller said in the announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Long Beach mayor and Long Beach State Foundation member Bob Foster was a major supporter of education,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-97765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}