American horticulturalist and businessman. Bob Foster was born and raised in Los Angeles County, California, where his family had an avocado farm. His interest in horticulture began early: by the age of 12 he had built his first lath house and was cultivating bonsai. He worked with his father in the family insurance business until he went into partnership with his best friend, the horticulturalist Charles Glass, in 1968 as co-owners of the Abbey Garden Press and Nursery. Foster and Glass were also co-editors of the Cactus and Succulent Journal and co-authors of the book Cacti and Succulents for the Amateur (1974).

They made many joint expeditions to hunt for succulents, including 15 in Mexico between 1964 and 1974. In 1968 they discovered a new species that Foster later published as Mammillaria glassii. In all, their plant explorations in Mexico resulted in the discovery and/or description of 28 species of cacti and the reclassification of 26 others.

Although they sold Abbey Garden to become co-directors of Madam Walska's Lotusland in Montecito, they later bought it back and moved the business to Santa Barbara, where they ran it as wholesalers. Their business eventually expanded into rare shells, becoming the largest specimen shell dealership in the United States. In the early 1990s, Foster sold all his personal collections and moved the shell business to Bishop, California. He died in Mammoth Lakes in January 2002. Three species of molluscs are named after him: Murex fosteri, from the Red Sea, Murex fosterorum, from South Africa, and Bursa fosteri, from the Philippines.

Sources:
G. Wrinkle, 2003, "Bob Foster (1938-2002)", Cactus and Succulent Journal (U.S.), 75(3): 109-112.