Robert H. Foster devoted his life to family, newspaper and community

Foster's Daily Democrat remembers its publisher, Robert H. Foster, who passed away last night at the age of 88.

His history at the 136-year-old newspaper started with him joining his father in 1946 after returning from service with the U.S. Army in World War II. Bob was fond of telling the story... "the first day on the job I changed a 30-watt bulb to a 60-watt bulb. And when I got home that night I felt I had made a 100 percent improvement in the paper."

At that time the paper had a daily circulation of about 500 and was printed on an old flatbed press. The newspapers were distributed from a dilapidated building with aging facilities.

Through the 1960s to the 1990s, Bob Foster created a newspaper group with a reputation for quickly adapting to advancing publishing technology and having exceptionally strong local news content.