Robert “Bob” Foster, the longtime businessman whose expertise helped guide his two-term mayoral tenure through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, died at a hospital in Palm Springs Sunday following an accidental fall at his La Quinta home. He was 78.
In a statement released Monday, a spokesperson said he was “surrounded by family” at the time of his death. A funeral is still being arranged with details to be announced.
After a distinguished career in the private sector, including as president of Southern California Edison, it was the lot of Bob Foster to become mayor of Long Beach at a time when circumstances beyond his control placed the city in financially dire straits.
At the time he was inaugurated 19 years ago, the city was suffering under spiraling pension costs, the air bogged by congestion and traffic from its seaport and straining under a deficit waiting to be compounded by one of the worst recessions in U.S. history.
Despite Foster’s strong credentials helming one of the nation’s largest utilities, he had never run for elected public office. Yet it turns out Foster was in many ways the right person at the right time.
Foster held the mayoral office from 2006 to 2014. In that time, he oversaw the cutting of $200 million in expenses and 780 employee positions. In a bid to tamp down the city’s bloated unfunded pension liability, he oversaw tough negotiations with the city’s employee unions, achieving pension reform that saved millions of dollars.
He argued for financial discipline at the seaport, fought against cost overruns on projects like the Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement project, vetoed the Port’s proposed $300 million headquarters (he called it “a Taj Mahal”) and called out inappropriate travel expenses.
“He was the kind of leader who knew it was up to him to make tough decisions,” City Prosecutor Doug Haubert said. “He had to lead us during the recession, and he did just that.”
By the time he left office — handing the seat to then-Councilmember, now Rep. Robert Garcia — the city reported its lowest violent crime numbers in 41 years and the first city surplus in 14 years.
He fought for transparency around the city’s larger — more than $1 million — real estate buys, including a disclosure of individuals or corporations receiving commissions or fees on transactions in which the city is the buyer.
Other achievements include bolstering the police and fire academies, as well as environmental improvements at the Port of Long Beach.
Foster was born on New Year’s Day in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1947. As a young man, Foster began with a trades background, taught by his father to install carpets.
A graduate of San José State University in 1969, Bob served as a trustee to the CSU system from 1997 to 2006 and was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Human Letters from his alma mater in 2015.
Before his work at Edison, he was hired by the state Senate in 1971 to work on the Public Utilities, Transit and Energy Committee. He became the committee’s chief of staff a year later.
There, he helped develop legislation that created the first statewide energy efficiency standards, which led to the creation of the California Energy Commission.
The contacts he made in the Legislature eventually led to his work for Southern California Edison, and after working a series of jobs in the company, he became president in 2002.
In 1998, under the leadership of then-Gov. Pete Wilson, he was appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees. He also taught for one semester as the “Leader-in-Residence” in the Department of Political Science at San Jose State University.
Foster was known for his no-nonsense, direct style of dealing with people. He never tried to sugarcoat a problem and held to a financial discipline that placed him at odds with poor management wherever he found it.
But in his later years, he focused increasingly on philanthropy. He helped open the ACE Academy at Jordan High School, a four-year program teaching architecture, construction and engineering skills. Ahead of the Long Beach State Dirtbags’ 2025 season, Foster and his wife created the James Foster Endowed Scholarship in memory of their late son.
Many officials, entertained by his antics and sobered by his warnings, found it difficult to believe
the voice Foster had raised in the legislative halls of Long Beach, on street corners and occasionally on television, had ceased.
“As Mayor of Long Beach for eight years, Bob transformed the city into an economic powerhouse, led us through the 2008 financial crisis, signed historic agreements to clean our air and water, and made city government more efficient and responsive to residents,” said Rep. Garcia in a statement Monday.
“Our city is better because he cared deeply for it, and his impact will be felt for generations. We honor his legacy and wish him peace,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement.
In 2019, Foster’s namesake became the title of the city’s new Civic Chambers — making him the third Long Beach politician to have a downtown building named for them, joining former mayor Beverly O’Neil and former Governor George Deukmejian.
He is remembered as a great friend and mentor, a tough accountant, and a pioneer in energy regulation.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy, one of his two sons and three grandchildren.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to show Foster was survived by only one of his two sons.