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Longtime Toledo newspaper publisher remembered
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: May 10, 2018
He dedicated his life to the newspaper publishing business, owning and running a number of publications in the Toledo area, including The Toledo Legal News, but on April 10, 2018, Allen C. Foster passed away peacefully at his home in Sylvania, Ohio at the age of 92.
Virginia Seitz, former publisher of the Toledo Legal News, described Foster as a “very good boss” and an “extremely hard worker.”
She said Foster taught her a great deal during the many years she worked for him.
“Allen was very competitive and he wanted to win so he would strategize to make the best business decisions,” said Seitz, who served as publisher of the Toledo Legal News from 2000 through June 2017. “He wanted everything done yesterday, but he didn’t mind working three shifts in a row if it meant getting good results.”
His longtime wife, Marty Foster said he was “a wonderful husband, who was kind and generous.”
While she describes Foster as “a tough businessman,” she said “he helped a lot of people throughout his lifetime.”
Born on Jan. 19, 1926 in Coshocton, Ohio, Foster was the youngest of three boys born to Mary and Clifford Foster.
After graduating from Coshocton High School, Foster enlisted in the U.S. Navy, becoming a gunner’s mate first class during World War II. He served in the Pacific Theater aboard a tug in the fleet of Adm. William F. “Bull” Halsey.
Foster married his first wife, Ann, in August 1947. They lived in Port Clinton for a number of years and had one son, Jeffrey A. Foster.
“My parents met at an eighth grade dance,” said Jeffrey. “My dad was three days older than my mom.”
They divorced in 1973 and Foster married his second wife, Marty on New Year’s Eve in 1979.
When Foster was discharged from the Navy in 1946, he used his GI Bill to attend Bowling Green State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
Prior to moving to Toledo, Foster worked in accounting for several companies, including the Erie Ordnance Depot.
His son Jeffrey said Foster got his start in the newspaper business when he went to work for the CEN-ROE News in Toledo.
“It was a weekly shopper, named after Central Avenue and Monroe Street,” said Jeffrey, who owns the Dayton Legal News, d/b/a the Daily Court Reporter. “At the time the Colony Shopping Center was right there. I think it was one of the first of its kind in Ohio. The shopping center created the need for the newspaper.
“My dad became the editor and sales director of the paper,” said Jeffrey.
In 1954, he acquired the paper, which later merged with Lucius Hunt’s West Toledo Herald. The paper then operated under the name West Toledo Herald.
“The West Toledo Herald had been my dad’s competition,” said Jeffrey.
“I remember that my dad used to have to travel to Sandusky to get the paper printed because that’s where local non-daily papers got printed.”
Around 1966, Jeffrey said his father started Toledo’s first offset printing company for newspapers (Allen C. Foster & Son Incorporated).
“My dad owned and ran the printing business until the early 2000s,” Jeffrey said.
Foster also acquired other publications, including the Sylvania Herald, Maumee Herald, Southwest Express and the Anthony Wayne Standard.
In 1975, Foster purchased The Toledo Legal News from Lucius Hunt and about ten years later he bought the Dayton Legal News (Daily Court Reporter) from Charles Beringer Jr.
“Many of the papers went out of business in the 1990s,” said Jeffrey. “My dad sold me the Daily Court Reporter in 1991.
“I had been working for my dad since I was about 16. He taught me everything I know about the newspaper business.
“He was very busy, but he always made time for me,” Jeffrey said. “He had a great way of explaining things to you whether you were a kid or an adult.”
Foster held on to The Toledo Legal News until March 2017 when he sold it to Jim and Lisa Schubargo.
“I had known Allen for more than 20 years,” said Schubargo. “We lived in the same neighborhood.
“He was a very successful businessman,” he said. “He had high expectations for himself and his employees, but he was a very kind man. He believed a handshake was golden and initially when he sold me the paper that’s how he wanted to do it.
“His wife and I were able to persuade him that lawyers needed to be involved,” said Schubargo. “He treated the legal news like his baby and I promised him I would do the same.
“Allen was a quiet, unassuming man, who was very generous but did not want the recipients of his generosity to be aware of it.”
Seitz said she stayed on for a few months after the paper was sold to assist with the transition.
“Allen and I were neighbors when he asked me to be the publisher,” she said. “At the time I was working in the healthcare industry.
“When he told me he needed a publisher, I was skeptical that I could make the transition, but he convinced me I could do it and he was right.
“Outside of the office, Allen was a completely different person and we became friends,” said Seitz. “He always insisted on separating business from our friendship.
“He had a lot of energy, which came through no matter what he did. He loved playing cards and golf. He definitely left his mark on the newspaper industry in Toledo,” Seitz said.
Foster was a lifetime member of the Sylvania Country Club and an avid golfer, winning several club championships.
For the past 25 years, Foster and his wife Marty spent six months a year living in the waterfront golf community of Harbour Ridge in Palm City, Florida, where Foster enjoyed fishing.
“Allen also enjoyed playing Gin rummy with a group of his friends,” said Marty.
Foster belonged to the Toledo Moose Lodge and was a generous supporter and patron of many causes, including the Cherry Street Mission for Men and his alma mater, Coshocton High School, where he established a special endowment to honor his graduating class of 1943.
Foster was laid to rest on April 13 at Toledo Memorial Park, following a memorial service at Reeb Funeral Home in Sylvania, Ohio.
He’s survived by his wife Marty; son Jeffrey; stepsons Thom Lantz and Anthony and Ronald DeCola; stepdaughter Lisa Lantz; six granddaughters; one grandson; three great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.