Seaborn Parks Foster, a long-time resident of Asheville, NC and Cape May, NJ, passed away of natural causes in his home on January 4, 2009, surrounded by his family.  He was 96 years old.

Mr. Foster was born on September 5, 1912 in Midway, Alabama.  He was son of the late William Thomas and Willie Antoinette Parks Foster. He was also preceded in death by a brother, William Thomas Foster, Jr.

He graduated in 1933 from the University of Alabama and, after a short career teaching high school, joined the Roosevelt Administration in 1935.  In 1936 Mr. Foster became a pioneer member of the Social Security Administration and accepted a field position in Asheville, NC.  Over the next several years he managed social security field offices in Goldsboro, NC and Bristol, Virginia. 

His civil service career was interrupted by the advent of WWII.  After the bombing at Pearl Harbor, Mr. Foster enlisted as an Army private.  He was accepted into Officer Candidate School and eventually was assigned to the Intelligence and Security Office of the Army Air Corps’ Air Transport Command.  The majority of his service was spent in the Pacific theatre in the Intelligence and Security Office.  During his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star in recognition for the capture of the only German spy arrested on U.S. soil during the war.  By the conclusion of the war he had been promoted to the rank of major. 

After the war, Mr. Foster was recruited to join the State Department’s Foreign Service and was assigned to the Embassy in Paris, where he assisted in the re-organization of U.S. diplomatic posts throughout Europe.  In 1948 he was transferred to the program to assist European recovery from the war, The Marshall Plan.  He was detailed to the Economic Recovery Administration and appointed Director of the Office of Security and Investigations, where he reported directly to Averell Harriman, the Ambassador in charge of administering the Marshall Plan.  His role in the reconstruction of Europe after WWII was one of his proudest achievements.

Once the tasks of the Marshall Plan had been accomplished, Mr. Foster was assigned to serve as the Administrative Officer to the Embassy in Paris, a post he filled for the next four years.  It was during this time that he met and married the former Eleanor Graham of Philadelphia, Pa., who was to play an instrumental role in his Foreign Service career.

In 1955 Mr. Foster was assigned to serve as Deputy Director of the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C., the branch of the service responsible for training Foreign Service officers.  During this assignment he assisted in creating what is now the prestigious Senior Course in Foreign Policy.  He was also asked to travel to Africa to establish an on-site training program for young Foreign Service officers assigned to the many new African countries created during the post-war years.

  Mr. Foster’s next assignment was as Counselor of Embassy for Administration in Manila, the largest Embassy in Southeast Asia, where he worked from 1958-62. After the assignment in the Philippines, he assumed the post of Executive Director of the Bureau of European Affairs which was responsible for the oversight and administration of United States Embassies and consular offices throughout Europe and Canada.  That posting was followed by his final Foreign Service assignment as the U.S. Consul General to Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Mr. Foster retired from the Foreign Service in 1970 to Asheville, NC.  In 1974 he was appointed U.S. Deputy Commissioner General for the World’s Fair in Spokane, Washington, and then Coordinator of International Participation for the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial in Philadelphia.  He concluded his career in 1978 as Executive Director of the Audubon Naturalist Society.

After retiring from public service, Mr. Foster split his time between Asheville and Cape May, where he dedicated himself to long early-morning bicycle rides well into his 90s.

            Mr. Foster is survived by his wife of 58 years, Eleanor Graham Foster; son Don Parks Foster of Philadelphia; son Robert Graham Foster, wife Lynn and children Beth, Samuel and Paige, all of Asheville; daughter Ellen Foster Kuhn and son Devin, of Arlington, Va; son Scott Bailie Foster, wife Elodie and children Adam, Olivia, Zachary, Hugh and Renée, all of Villennes-sur-Seine, France.

 A memorial service is planned for Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 2:00PM at Morris Funeral Home, 304 Merrimon Avenue, Asheville.  A ceremony with full military honors and inurnment will be held at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Mountain Area Hospice, P.O. Box 5779, Asheville, NC. 28813.  The family wishes to express gratitude to the faithful and dedicated service of Roberta Pearcy for her assistance in caring for Mr. Foster.