Remembering David Foster

Posted on 24 July 2024

A tribute from former Vice-Chancellor Sir Ron Cooke

David Foster, 1938-2024

Over 30 years ago, a newly arrived Vice-Chancellor at the University of York was taken aside by a well-known local citizen and told: “ You will never meet a nicer person in York than David Foster”. How true! David’s many friends and admirers confirm his endearing personality: selfless and generous; enthusiastic and cultured; engaged yet discreet; caring and empathetic; affable and courteous; loyal and committed; a-political and diplomatic; refined and well-mannered, with a gentle good humour. Straight as a die, with a prodigious memory. He was brilliant at turning acquaintances and colleagues into friends.

After he left Carlisle – where he first met Lorna, the love of his life and partner for over 60 years – he read history at Durham and had a short spell with General Life in London.

He soon moved into the new administration of the University’s second year in 1965. And there he remained for the rest of his working life.

From the outset he brought his personality to bear on establishing university structures, beginning with the exam system and graduation (even to the point of modelling prospective graduation gowns).

He turned The Registry into the powerhouse of academic and personnel services. His fingerprints are on so many behind-the -scene offices: including Personnel, Staff Development, Equal Opportunities, the Graduate School, Press and Public Relations, Admissions (including overseas student recruitment), Library and Archives.

His success is mainly reflected in two things. First, his appointment of a small band of outstanding colleagues who admired and respected him, and from whom he expected hard work and high standards. But in return, they were given their heads, and they flourished in a happy and relaxed environment. And secondly, his success reflected his professionalism, encouragement, a lightness of touch and natural frugality.

He always used staff resources sparingly, so as to ensure the University priority of investing in the top academic staff was never constrained by administrative expenditure. Many remember his famously worn-out office carpet only and reluctantly replaced at the end of a long refurbishment of Heslington Hall.

In 1986 he became that rare thing, a popular and effective Registrar whose personality indelibly marked the early distinctiveness of York: a collegial atmosphere, companionable and inclusive, where academics and all those who supported them could work alongside students in reasonable and unpatronising harmony; a pioneering, exciting and challenging place, rapidly carving out an international reputation, while trying to combine success with happiness.

David brought his skills to most University committees, and especially the Senior Management Group. Here he was a bastion of common sense, imperturbability, reliability, and always a team player. For him, meetings could be a pleasure, and he often embellished them with vital news he brought from the “coal face”. His ability to bring diverse groups together and to defuse a problem or conflict was proverbial. As secretary to all appointment committees he came to know and help all new academic staff and other colleagues. His role in making meticulous minutes, worthy of any Cabinet Secretary, made him probably the largest contributor to the University’s archive.

In many major initiatives, David was an enthusiastic and crucial facilitator, working with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of simplicity. His projects included the integration of nursing studies, the creation of Health Sciences, and the establishment of the Medical School (which included extensive negotiations, not least with the University of Hull). And then there were many research group and departmental initiatives to cope with, such as The History of Art, Environment, Women’s Studies,and 18th Century Studies. Beyond the campus, David facilitated external partnerships with FE colleges, the White Rose University Consortium and the Worldwide University Network. His role was central to the fundamentally important Teaching Quality Assessments and the Research Selectivity Exercises (now the REF). These were massive, collaborative efforts where David’s deft use of language and his comprehensive attention to detail helped to reap very successful results.

In many ways, David’s leadership was low profile and behind the scenes, but it was powerfully informed by his relaxed public management style. With his great height and long legs, he managed by walking about, dropping in on colleagues and College common rooms.

Beetroot, rhubarb and other vegetables from his two allotments were a strong networking tool, along with his fund of stories, and cheerful greetings. So many of his contacts received from him appropriate messages of congratulation, support or sadness. He knew and remembered many students, especially postgraduates, to whom he offered unobtrusive support and civil responses to occasional student eruptions.

His contacts extended even further. He was a stalwart member of Derwent and Alcuin colleges common rooms, President of the University Golf Society, and Founder of the University Allotment Society. Invariably accompanied by Lorna, he regularly attended social events, such as all graduate ceremonies (including his own), the University’s excellent concerts, and student festivities. To this he added contacts in Waitrose, the Fulford Golf Club (often demonstrating his unique drive), and bridge parties.

Thus in many ways he felt the pulse of the campus. His number of contacts was second to none, and he gained a unique knowledge of the University, from its beginnings to the present. The University and the wellbeing of others were in his soul.

David was well rounded culturally. As a keen reader, he loved books and book fairs; as a musician he enjoyed concerts and opera nationally; and as a covert but competent sketcher he secured and monitored the University’s art collection (famously finding “a Piper” behind a radiator).

Throughout his career he cultivated many interests beyond the campus. In Heslington, he served as governor and Chair of Governors of Lord Deramore’s School, overseeing the building of the new school. He was chair of the Parish Council, chair of the Alms Houses Committee and a founder member of The Heslington Play Group. In the City he led the York Housing Association for many years; he chaired the Events Committee of York Civic Trust and ran a very successful visits programme. And he was a founder of the Sheldon Memorial Trust.

David and Lorna were happily married for over 60 years, a devoted couple with two children – Kirsty ( a consultant in Health Protection in Newcastle), and Tom (a PGA golf professional in Sicily.)

While the University has now moved on from David’s day, his reward for a lifelong commitment to York is the creation of the country’s most successful 1960s university. With his passing at 86, the University has lost a much-loved friend, a lot of its corporate memory, and one of its longest serving and most influential colleagues.

Sir Ron Cooke (Vice-Chancellor of the University of York from 1993 to 2002)