Alfred Leon Foster, emeritus professor of mathematics at U.C.-Berkeley, died Dec. 24, 1994. He was 90. Born in N.Y.C. July 13, 1904, he earned his bachelor's and master's at CalTech in 1926 and 1927. He earned his doctorate at Princeton in mathematics. In 1930 he married Else Wagner and together they spent one year in a postdoctoral visit at the Univ. of Goettingen.
He was first employed at Berkeley as a part-time teacher and this soon grew into a full-time appointment. He retired there in 1971. His scholarly work lay in the field of Boolean algebra, Boolean rings, and universal algebra. He was a deeply committed family man and, with his wife, was tremendously devoted to the education of their offspring. He is survived by wife Else, and their two daughters, two sons, eight grandchildren, and three great-granddaughters.
We extend to all his family, friends, and former students our sincere condolences.
The Graduate Alumni