[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 84 (Wednesday, June 28, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S6008]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO DR. NANCY FOSTER

 Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, it is with the most heartfelt 
sadness that I rise today to commemorate the life of Dr. Nancy Foster, 
who passed away Tuesday at her home in Baltimore, Maryland. As I stand 
here today I recall that only a year ago I spoke to you about Dr. 
Foster's outstanding work as head of the National Ocean Service at the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The news of her 
passing was bitter pill. Not only was Dr. Foster a dedicated and 
visionary public servant, but she was also universally admired and 
loved. I know that her creativity, boundless energy, and compassion 
will be sorely missed both here and at NOAA. Dr. Foster's efforts in my 
home state of South Carolina both as head of NOS and then at NOAA's 
Fisheries Service were testaments to her skill at bringing groups 
together to solve incredibly complex coastal problems, from protecting 
our sea turtles to conserving and understanding our precious coastal 
resources. The world is a better place for her having served here with 
us.
  Dr. Foster came to NOAA in 1977 and spent her career promoting 
programs to explore, map, protect and develop sustainably our Nation's 
coastal and fishery resources. She helped create the National Marine 
Sanctuary Program and Estuarine Research Reserve Program. These 
programs preserve America's near shore and offshore marine environments 
in the same manner as do the better known national parks and wildlife 
refuges on land. Nancy went on to serve as the Director of Protected 
Resources at NOAA's Fisheries Service, where she managed the 
Government's programs to protect and conserve whales, dolphins, sea 
turtles and other endangered and protected species. After that, Dr. 
Foster was named the Deputy Director of the Fisheries Service, where 
she forged alliances between fishing and conservation groups to ensure 
both the protection of our living marine resources and the 
sustainability of our human resources. I particularly recall her 
special efforts in South Carolina, where she worked hand in hand with 
our shrimpers to help them devise ways of keeping sea turtles out of 
their nets.
  In 1977, Commerce Secretary Bill Daley and NOAA Under Secretary Jim 
Baker tapped Nancy to take over the National Ocean Service. Not only 
was she the first woman to direct a NOAA line office, but she was given 
one of the most senior levels a career professional can achieve; in 
other agencies or bureaus, such a position would be reserved for at 
least an Assistant Secretary-level official. NOS has the longest 
running mission of all the NOAA line offices--coastal mapping traces 
its lineage back to 1807--and she pioneered a reinvention effort that 
has made the Ocean Service one of the most modern and effective of the 
line offices. A proven innovator, she directed the total modernization 
of NOAA's essential nautical mapping and charting programs. In 
addition, along with Dr. Sylvia Earle she created a ground-breaking 
partnership with the National Geographic Society to launch a 5-year 
undersea exploration program called `Sustainable Seas Expedition.' to 
rekindle our nation's interest in the oceans, and especially the 
national marine sanctuaries. This effort has sparked the kind of 
enthusiasm about the oceans that Jacques Cousteau created when I first 
came to the Senate.
  While the Federal Government frequently recognized Dr. Foster's 
contributions through numerous important awards, she was also a person 
whom the rank and file employees at NOAA--the marine biologists, 
researchers, and managers--trusted and admired. She was a strong and 
enthusiastic mentor to young people and a staunch ally to her 
colleagues. She has, and always will, serve as a role model for 
professional women everywhere, especially those who work in the 
sciences. Nancy Foster was that rare official whom we in the Congress 
looked to for leadership, candor, and sensitivity, and we will all feel 
her loss deeply for years to come. I would like to offer my deepest 
appreciation for Dr. Foster's outstanding contribution to the Nation 
and send my sincerest condolences to her family and friends.

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