William Kenneth Foster, Sr., a longtime Pittsburgh banking and Urban League executive, died of natural causes January 20, 2015, in Douglasville, Ga., at age 81.
Foster’s banking and nonprofit service career was highlighted by being named president of New World National Bank in Pittsburgh in 1977 and being appointed by Pennsylvania Gov. Richard Thornburgh as executive director of the Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Authority. He also served in top executive positions with Independence Bank of Chicago, Seaway National Bank in Chicago, and the Urban League of Pittsburgh.
Longtime Pittsburghers recall Foster’s role in helping to quell violence following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968 and his deaconship at Central Baptist Church in the Hill District.
Among Foster’s achievements were being named to the Citizens for Social Security Reform panel by Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum; New Pittsburgh Courier Businessman of the Week, Dec. 21, 1994; Who’s Who Among Black Americans, 1980-1981; and Black Enterprise magazine Banker of the Year, June 1979. Foster also was a delegate to the National Conference on Economic Development, Civil Rights and Urban Affairs under the presidential administrations of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George Herbert Walker Bush.
Foster was born June 10, 1933, on the Pittsburgh’s North Side, the fifth and last child of Gertrude Jefferson Foster, with Guy Murphy. In 1960, he married Dolores Jean Porter in Pittsburgh, where they reared three children: Kimberly Anne, William Kenneth, II (Faney), and Pamela Eleanor, all of whom survive him in Douglasville. He also leaves children Walter Kenneth Watson of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Valinda Jones (Leon) of Panama City, Fla.
After graduating from Allegheny High School on the North Side in 1952, Foster joined the Air Force and served through the Korean War until 1956. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science at Duquesne University in 1963. Later Foster earned a graduate certificate in banking at the University of Wisconsin and one in residential mortgage lending at the Institute of Financial Education in Athens, Ga.
Basketball was Foster’s game in both high school and college, with his six-foot-one-inch frame and superb agility earning him the nickname “human blockade.” He often led in blocks, rebounds, and scoring. From his basketball experiences, Foster was known to say, “I’m cool” and “inch by inch, everything’s a cinch.”
Always artistic, Foster showed his love for his community by publishing a book in 1977 titled “The Morning’s News.” This memoir captures many of Foster’s most profound observations and lessons learned, in the hope that others will read, know, and grow.
A brief sketch of his life, titled “Collard Greens and Caviar,” notes how Foster was beloved by and at ease with people from all walks of life. On any given day he could be seen chatting with the janitors in his business offices, the workers at his neighborhood stores, or top business and government leaders.
Foster also was an avid painter, with acrylics and oils on canvas gracing the homes of many of his friends and family members. He was known in Pittsburgh as the “Artistic Banker.”
Foster was preceded in death by his parents and his siblings, Leroy, Virginia, Betty, and Delores.
Arrangements are being handled by Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home, 8312 Dallas Highway, Douglasville, Ga. 30134 (770-489-6751, www.williewatkins.com), where funeral services are to be held Saturday, January 24, 2015. Visitation with the family is at 11 a.m. and service begins at noon. Repast follows at 5305 Brookhollow Drive, Douglasville, Ga., 30135. On Friday, January 23, general viewing is from noon to 7 p.m. Interment is scheduled for noon Monday, January 26, 2015, at Georgia National Cemetery, 1080 Veterans Cemetery Road, Canton, Ga. 30114 (770-479-9300, https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/georgia.asp
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