NORWICH – Richard Benedict Foster, M.D., 79, died at his home in Norwich, New York on Friday, June 20, 2008. Dr. Foster was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on August 26, 1928, the son of Edward Wendell Foster, M.D. and Madeline Benedict Foster. He grew up in Meriden, Connecticut, graduated in 1946 from The Choate School where he won the prestigious English Prize. He matriculated at Amherst College, graduating in 1950. He attended Yale Medical School and was awarded his M.D. degree in 1955. He was a surgical intern and assistant resident at Yale New Haven Hospital. In 1957 he became an assistant resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, and completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York in 1960. He practiced Obstetrics and Gynecology in Norwich, from 1960 to 1981, when illness forced his retirement.
Doctor Foster is survived by his children, Andrea Foster Ozment of New Haven, Connecticut, Jonathan Todd Foster, M.D. of Southbury, Connecticut, Richard Chedsey Foster of West Haven, Connecticut, Sabrina Foster Bruno of New Haven, Connecticut, Charles Henry Christian
Foster of Westboro, Massachusetts, Chandler Norton Foster of Stamford, Connecticut, Mariana Foster Szumilas of Killingworth, Connecticut, Statyra Foster Santangelo of West Haven, Connecticut, and by their thirteen children: Amanda Ozment of Bristol, Connecticut, Emma Ozment of Boston, Massachusetts, Christian, Juliana and Rebecca Foster of Southbury, Connecticut, Jennifer Foster of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, Thomas and Christopher Bruno of New Haven, Connecticut, Chandler II, Chelsea and Kayla Foster of Stamford, Connecticut, and Aleksander and Oliver Szumilas of Killingworth, Connecticut. Survivors also include his former wife, Anna Norton Foster of New Haven, Connecticut, two children from his first marriage, Robert S. Munson of Virginia and Ann Elizabeth Munson of California and their children. He is survived by a great-grandchild, Jayden Foster, and by his sister, Patricia Foster Griswold of Rancho Cordova, California and his brother David Ralph Foster of Meriden, Connecticut. He was predeceased by his parents, by his brother, Edward Kennard Foster, and by a daughter, Mary Elizabeth Foster.
Doctor Foster was very active in the medical community of Norwich, serving as president of the Tri-County Medical Society. He was active as well in the Alumni Associations of Amherst College and Yale Medical School. He was an enthusiastic outdoorsman, fisherman and hunter, as well as a golfer and expert skier. An equally enthusiastic lover of the arts, particularly opera, he was a patron of the Glimmerglass Opera House in Cooperstown from its inception.
There will be a memorial service at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Norwich at 2 p.m. on Friday, June 27. Burial will be private at the family’s convenience.
Please consider a memorial gift to Hospice and Palliative Care of Chenango County or the Atlantic Salmon Federation in his name.
The arrangements are under the direction of the Wilson Funeral Home. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting the funeral home website at: http://wilsonfh.com.