Kent Foster

Kent was born to Stanley and Dorothy Foster in Wyoming, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. He attended Wyoming High School where he was an outstanding academic, a fullback on the football team, a talented trumpeter for the WHS Band and an enthusiastic sailor at Cowan Lake. He went on to graduate from Yale University and Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkley.The rest of the family took to golf, but Kent took to racing sailboats. He started in the family's Flying Scot, placing Third at the National Championships in 1967 - with his brother and mother as crew! The Yale Sailing Team was an important part of his college career. Kent went on to race Thistles, winning the Thistle Nationals in 1970. He was very proud of that, talking about it as recently as the evening before he died.While at law school, he met fellow student Pamela Fairley, and they married soon after graduation. They moved to San Diego where both of their children, Devon and Chris, were born. Kent was extremely proud of his children, never missing a game, performance or celebration.Kent and Pam joined Mission Bay Yacht Club and began racing a Lido 14 dinghy. Kent was an avid sailor, winning the Lido fleet Championship at MBYC several times and the Club Championship 3 times. He had a natural intuition for sensing the wind direction. Kent was always competitive, but always a fair and respectful competitor.Most of Kent's legal career was at the firm of Glenn, Wright, Jacobs and Schell, representing contractors and water districts.Kent had a stroke in 2004, which effectively ended his legal career. However, he continued skiing and racing the Lido 14 competitively. His preference was for active sports - skiing black diamond runs and kayaking in white water or the surf off Sunset Cliffs. He also loved to travel abroad and enjoyed sailing trips to Greece and French Polynesia, canal trips in France, and safaris in Africa. But he also loved peaceful fishing at the family cabin on the Michigan Upper Peninsula.Kent died suddenly of cardiac arrest while snorkeling in the waters off Belize. He had had a fabulous day sailing the day before, kayaked with Pam the morning of his death, and died in warm Caribbean waters. He loved so much of life. He will be greatly missed. He is survived by his wife, Pam, his children Devon and Chris (Maddie Mattocks), and his brothers Erik (Anne Shannon) and Ted.Kent's ashes will be scattered in the Pacific Ocean, near the area where he loved serving on race committee for ocean sailboat races. If anyone wishes to make a donation in his memory, the family suggests a nonprofit devoted to supporting competitive youth sailboat racing, Juniors in Boating, c/o MBYC, 1215 El Carmel Place, San Diego, CA 92109.