Longtime Springfield businessman and president of Foster Hospitality Group LLC Bill Foster leaves a legacy of giving back to the community he knew well.
Foster, 86, died July 24 of natural causes at Meyer Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital at CoxHealth. He had been in rehabilitation, according to his son, John Foster, vice president of Foster Hospitality.
“He’s gonna be missed, not just by us, but the community itself,” John Foster said. “He spent a lot of time doing things in the community. He was a really warm and caring person.
“That’s kind of how he ended up being in the business he was in. That’s how it all started.”
John Foster said his father’s company, which employs 270 among eight assisted living facilities under the Culpepper Place name, now passes into the ownership of him, his brother Tony and his sister Kaye Foster-Gibson. John Foster said he likely would serve as president of the company his father was active in until his death.
MSU ties Brent Dunn, executive director of the Missouri State University Foundation, said Bill Foster was one of the school’s largest donors.
“Mr. Foster has been involved with the university a long time, ever since the start of the foundation in 1981,” Dunn said. “Over the years, he and his family have given to a number of things, from athletics to performing arts to scholarships for students.
“Of course, the big one we talked about was the recreation center. That was a really special gift for us, and it has really made an impact on the campus.”
Dunn declined to disclose gift details, but said they were “well into the seven figures.”
In 2012, MSU opened its $30 million, 100,000-square-foot recreation center, dubbed the Bill R. Foster and Family Recreation Center following a significant donation from the family. Other Foster family gifts include donations for the construction of JQH Arena and the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts.
“He’s given to all kinds of areas, but that one was the ultimate gift that really made big-time changes to the campus,” Dunn said of the student recreation center. “He wanted to help people in so many ways, and this was a great fit with the mission of the whole family in assisting people.”
Bill Foster also served on the school’s foundation board 1987-93, leading as board president 1990-91. Tony and John Foster are current members of the foundation board, Dunn said.
“He was one of the most positive people I’ve known. He always had a smile on his face,” Dunn said. “He loved being on campus, and attended all kinds of events on campus. He was just apart of the university family.”
Among his contributions to the community, Bill Foster was a major contributor to the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s campaign to find itself a new home, said chamber assistant Suzette West. Following the opening of the John Q. Hammons Enterprise Center in 1996, the Bill Foster North and Bill Foster South meeting rooms were named in his honor. He served on the chamber’s board of directors 1984-86.
‘Best kept secret’ The entrepreneurial Foster has been called “Springfield’s best kept secret,” though Foster’s business and civic contributions were recognized in his later years.
Foster was honored with the Springfieldian and Missourian awards, and in 2013, he received Springfield Business Journal’s Lifetime Achievement in Business Award.
Bill Foster’s business career began at the age of 22 when he launched a small laundromat called Foster’s Help Yourself Laundry on North Broadway Avenue. Before the age of 30, the Springfield Senior High School graduate and former merchant marine also owned Foster Nursing Home and a Sam’s Root Beer stand, according to SBJ archives.
Foster dabbled in the hotel industry, building four properties before selling, but the bulk of his career was centered on serving the needs of others through his senior health care enterprise, which operated its headquarters at 426 S. Jefferson Ave.
The company operates two assisted living facilities in Springfield, one each in Branson and Nevada, and four in Arkansas. John Foster said Foster Hospitality is preparing to start construction on a ninth facility in Bartlett, Tenn. The business, which comprised as many as 15 facilities in 1997, reported an annual payroll last year of $6.5 million.
In 2013, Bill Foster told SBJ he had no plans to retire.
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