Foster died December 7, 1991, in San Diego, California, after a brief illness. Foster came to Dartmouth with Cum Laude honors from Lake Forest (Illinois) High School. He was a philosophy major and spent the fall of 1976 on Foreign Study at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He was active in the French Club and in his fraternity, Gamma Delta Chi.
After graduation, Foster worked as a legal assistant for Moore & Van Allen and eventually went on to study law at the University of San Diego. He was the son of James D. Vail III ’50, the grandson of both Franklin N. Corbin Jr. ’20 and James D. Vail Jr. ’20, and the nephew of Franklin N. Corbin III ’51. He is survived by his mother, father, and two brothers.
In Memory
Foster Vail
Scott Wheeler
Foster was a great guy. I remember hanging in his folk's basement. He was very smart and very dedicated to all of his persuits, be they accidemic or social.
Eric Hallowell
I remember Foster as a good friend with whom I shared many interests. We spoke a few times after LFHS, and he was always as I remembered him and I enjoyed catching up. He left us all too soon and is missed.
Steve Loring
Foster was one of the best friends I have ever known. This was before the internet or BFFFs. He was really exceptional at everything he endeavored. Just brilliant at every subject, but always with a dose of humor and satire. Great at games and music, a razor wit, he was just fun to be around. In 72 our chess team played in the nationals in NYC, Foster was on vacation with his family in Greece and flew into JFK to meet the rest of us. He had to forfeit his first game because his flight was delayed, but then proceeded to reel off 6 wins in a row and only lost to the tournament winner in the last round. We all did very well there and ended up taking second place as a team, but Foster's performance was truly memorable. This was typical, he had the heart of a tiger. When I got the call that he had passed in 90, I could not believe it, I had been to a concert with him a few years before and he seemed great. We will not see his like again, that mold was broken.