April 8, 2021
Elizabeth Gard Foster, 64, of Rancho Santa Fe, California, a devoted wife and mother, passionate photographer and former investor relations executive, lost a brief but brave battle with cancer March 24, 2021.
Born in Detroit and raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, she graduated from Kingswood School and went on to receive a communications degree from Arizona State University, where she also gained what would be a lifelong love of photography.
With a specialty in investor relations, she worked for global public relations firms in New York, Boston, Atlanta and Los Angeles before settling in San Diego. There she helped to shape the growing biotechnology industry and met her husband, Alan Charles Foster, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and biotechnology senior executive.
They married in 1993 and together raised three brilliant and beautiful children, Jonathan Charles, 26, a biomedical engineer; Alexandra Kate, 24, pursuing a career in public health; and Brennan Richard, 23, pursuing a career in finance.
She was brilliant and beautiful herself, with a sly sense of fun and, in younger years, a knack for making her way to the center of the action, be it a hot new restaurant, a national political convention or a World Series. Later in life she used that same talent to be there for her children, making them the center of her action and the pride and joy of her life. She was equally at home in the desert, in mountain snow or by the ocean, and she loved nothing more than being in the company of friends and family.
In addition to her loving children and husband, by her side until the end, Elizabeth leaves behind her mother Jacqueline Harris Gard of Troy, Michigan and brother Richard Gard and his wife Palmer of Charlottesville, Virginia. Her father, Stanley Gard, passed away in 2006.
The family will hold a private graveside service in the coming days, with a fuller celebration of her life to come.
Born in Detroit and raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, she graduated from Kingswood School and went on to receive a communications degree from Arizona State University, where she also gained what would be a lifelong love of photography.
With a specialty in investor relations, she worked for global public relations firms in New York, Boston, Atlanta and Los Angeles before settling in San Diego. There she helped to shape the growing biotechnology industry and met her husband, Alan Charles Foster, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and biotechnology senior executive.
They married in 1993 and together raised three brilliant and beautiful children, Jonathan Charles, 26, a biomedical engineer; Alexandra Kate, 24, pursuing a career in public health; and Brennan Richard, 23, pursuing a career in finance.
She was brilliant and beautiful herself, with a sly sense of fun and, in younger years, a knack for making her way to the center of the action, be it a hot new restaurant, a national political convention or a World Series. Later in life she used that same talent to be there for her children, making them the center of her action and the pride and joy of her life. She was equally at home in the desert, in mountain snow or by the ocean, and she loved nothing more than being in the company of friends and family.
In addition to her loving children and husband, by her side until the end, Elizabeth leaves behind her mother Jacqueline Harris Gard of Troy, Michigan and brother Richard Gard and his wife Palmer of Charlottesville, Virginia. Her father, Stanley Gard, passed away in 2006.
The family will hold a private graveside service in the coming days, with a fuller celebration of her life to come.