Greg Foster, one of the most decorated hurdlers in history and a longtime administrator at Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School, has died. He was 64 years old.
In a letter to families on Monday, MICDS announced the death of Foster, who served as the school’s coordinator of student engagement and mentored athletes as a track and field coach. In 2016, Foster was diagnosed with amyloidosis, a rare disease that can cause organ failure. He underwent a heart transplant in 2020.
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Few Americans have achieved more on the track than Foster, who earned silver in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and won three consecutive World Championship gold medals in the same event in 1983, 1987, and 1991. Across the length of his career, Foster accumulated 10 United States national titles, winning six indoor and four outdoor championships. He also held a world ranking for 15 of 16 years stretching from 1977 to 1992, including stints as the No. 1 hurdler in 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, and 1991.
And yet, as accomplished as he was in international competition, Foster seemingly left an even bigger mark as an educator. Jay Rainey, MICDS’ head of school, said in his letter that Foster inspired students and colleagues with his kindness and compassion.
“Greg Foster was literally, and for many years, the best in the world at what he did,” Rainey wrote. “His life leaves an abundance of legacies, among them the courage and strength to be grateful in the face of adversity. Models of egotism, entitlement, and ingratitude proliferate in our world. How wonderful to have known Greg Foster in this same world. The gratitude that he embraced and embodied is freely available to every one of us, to every member of this ‘awesome community’ that he so selflessly loved. Few can drive a Corvette quite so stylishly as Greg did, and even fewer can compete as world-class athletes, but all of us can live our lives with gratitude for the infinite blessings that we enjoy. We just have to choose to do so, as Greg did.”
A Chicago native, Foster was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 and into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1998. He began working at MICDS in 2013. During his time at the school, Foster also assisted with the cross country and football teams, and worked in admissions.
“Greg was one of the kindest, humblest human beings I have ever encountered,” wrote Vicki Thurman, MICDS’ director of student support services. “He had the remarkable ability to connect with people and make them feel understood and appreciated in a quiet way. When anyone new to MICDS would meet Greg for the first time, they would not know how accomplished an athlete he was. He carried this unassuming manner into his work with our students in his multiple coaching and mentoring roles. The students who had the privilege of working with Greg adored him, and he used his numerous athletic connections outside of our school to build connections for our student-athletes towards even more meaningful collegiate athletic experiences.”
