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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2016
Foster: ‘Mr. Astoria’ left imprint on city
Continued from Page 1A
Astoria High School Scholarships
Inc., a nonprofit that provides finan-
cial aid to graduating high school
students looking to continue their
education. The once-modest fund
now awards more than $200,000
each year.
“He always wanted the best for
everyone,” said Marilyn Birkel, Fos-
ter’s longtime friend and neighbor.
People close to Foster remember
him as gentle and generous, quirky
and kind, respected and well-liked, a
socialite with an offbeat flair, a his-
tory buff and world-traveler.
Foster was a good friend of Hal
Snow, a prominent local lawyer who
died last week in Portland at 75.
Snow co-founded the high school
scholarship fund. Both men grew
up in Astoria, cherished their home-
town and, with their time and tal-
ents, supported it throughout their
lives.
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Michael Foster served on the
Liberty Restoration Inc., board
of directors continuously from
its founding in 1994 through De-
cember 2013. His nearly 20 years
of support and volunteerism on
the Liberty board included ap-
plying by hand, gold paint with
18-karat gold powder added, to
the ornamentation in the inside
of the theater space.
‘Fun spirit’
A University of Oregon gradu-
ate, Foster began teaching at Asto-
ria High School in the early 1960s.
A few years later, in Kabul, Afghan-
istan, he was teaching through
the U.S. Agency for International
Development at the American
School, where employees from dif-
ferent embassies sent their children.
He eventually returned to Asto-
ria High School, where his subjects
ranged from history to yearbook. In
the mid-1970s, Foster became the
school librarian, a position he held
for about 20 years.
“When he was teaching, he
was always a real advocate for stu-
dents,” said friend and colleague
Bob Landwehr, the president of the
scholarship fund who taught in the
Astoria School District.
John Goodenberger, a local his-
torian who took some of Foster’s
classes in high school, said Foster
loved his students and stoked their
sense of adventure.
When Goodenberger was a
senior, Foster proposed a senior
trip, “and the senior trip was that
we would pile into a bus after grad-
uation, we wouldn’t know where
we were going, and we’d wake up
somewhere, and he would only give
clues as to where we might go.”
(John later learned the plan was to
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Michael Foster sits in his Astoria home in 2010. Foster died Tuesday at age 76.
major events, and he occasionally
donated art as well — for example,
to Astoria City Hall.
Birkel, who helped care for Fos-
ter, said she doesn’t yet know what
will become of his vast art trove.
Foster, who never married or had
children, is survived by a sister who
lives in Italy and some extended
family.
‘Broad vision’
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Michael Foster in the 1958 Asto-
ria High School yearbook.
Michael Foster in the 1958 Astoria High School yearbook.
head into southeast Oregon toward
Steens Mountain.)
“It was unfortunate that my
classmates didn’t latch onto that,
so it didn’t happen,” Goodenberger
said, “but I always remember that
fun spirit that he had, and at least
offering that to the students.”
Many years, Foster took a group
of students on a field trip to Europe.
“He just opened up the world to a
whole lot of kids,” Penner said.
Foster was a renowned collec-
tor of original art. Walking into his
6,500-square-foot Victorian home in
Astoria was like entering an interna-
tional art museum.
In “Astorians: Eccentric and
Extraordinary,” Foster spoke with
M.J. Cody about collecting. “Asked
in 2009 how many pieces of art he
owns, he said, ‘3,600 have been cat-
alogued.’ There are more, but he
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Art smart
doesn’t know how many.”
And, “About his obsession with
collecting, Foster said, ‘It’s like a
disease. It’s similar to alcoholism,
except you feel better.’”
For a time, he owned a down-
town antique store.
Foster’s taste was broad and
deep, taking in famous and local
artists.
He often opened his house for
artist receptions, fundraisers and
“One of the things that strikes
me the most about Michael was his
vision,” Goodenberger wrote in an
email.
“He was born and raised in Asto-
ria. He never allowed life in a small
town to be a limiting factor. When
he set his sights on something, any-
thing could be bigger or better than
its status quo. The Flavel Museum
could be a wonderfully restored
structure. The Heritage Museum
could tell a wider story. The Lib-
erty Theater could become a focal
point for music and culture. And,
the Astoria High School Scholarship
Fund could offer a scholarship to
any Astoria high school senior who
wanted to attend college.
“His broad vision will be his
legacy.”
Steve Forrester, The Daily Asto-
rian’s former editor and publisher,
contributed to this report.
Always in our hearts....
Wendy Richardson
12-21-2015