David Ramsey Foster, DSO,

DSC DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

and bar (24 May 1920 – 4 June 2010) was a decorated pilot in the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and a business executive.

Early life and education

David Ramsey Foster was born on 24 May 1920 in London to American parents Robert Bagley Foster, an Olympian swimmer, and Josephine Pontius Foster (née Ramsey). His sister, Phoebe Louise Foster, married Lieutenant Osbert Stephen Boothby, the son of Commander William Osbert Boothby MVO RN, on 21 June 1938. Foster was educated first at

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

and then at Gonville and Caius, Cambridge, where he studied economics and graduated in 1938.

Career

Once

had come to an end, Lieutenant-Commander David Foster had served in both the Western Desert and the Pacific theatres, and had received both the DSO and

and Bar. Foster joined

Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...

after the war. He rose to become president in 1970 and chairman in 1975.

Personal life

Foster married three times. On 1 February 1952 in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York, he married actress and divorcee Glynis Johns."Obituary"
''The Telegraph'', 18 July 2010 They divorced on 17 May 1956 and on 2 August 1957 he married Anne Firth, with whom he had two daughters. Finally, he married Alexandra Chang on 24 May 1996. He died on 4 June 2010 in

Brimfield, Massachusetts Brimfield is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,694 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Brimfield was first settled in 1706 and was offi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, David 1920 births 2010 deaths Royal Navy officers Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Fleet Air Arm aviators English people of American descent Colgate-Palmolive Companions of the Distinguished Service Order People educated at Stowe School Place of death missing Royal Navy officers of World War II Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Military personnel from London Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II 20th-century English businesspeople