A.G. Gancarski
This week, one of the leading Young Republicans in the state of Florida passed away in the prime of his life.
Robbie Foster, the former head of the Florida Federation of Young Republicans, died just days before his 36th birthday, which would have been Monday.
The FFYR said that “it is with deep sadness that we said goodbye to a friend, brother, and patriot today. Robbie Foster was a past chairman of the FFYR and founder of the Jacksonville Young Republicans. He will be greatly missed in the Young Republican family. Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences are with his family.”
Robert Mallory Foster Jr., the son of former Fourth Circuit Court judge Robert Mallory Foster, had a “bad flu” and went to the emergency room days before he passed away, say sources close to him.
Controversial and outspoken, Foster was a candid quote and a useful source for this reporter and others, offering hilarious descriptions of events the public otherwise would never have known.
Foster had worked as communications director for Public Defender Matt Shirk‘s reelection campaign. He was briefly a spokesperson for the Duval County Public Defender’s Office until removed by Shirk’s successor, Charlie Cofer, who defeated Shirk by a significant margin in the 2016 Republican primary.
Tributes for Foster poured in on Thursday.
No less than former Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater noted that Foster was Florida’s “finest son.”
“Robbie Foster believed in Florida and exhausted himself for his friends in the political arena,” Atwater wrote on Facebook. “I was one of those lucky friends and I will be forever grateful for Robbie’s presence in my life!”
The Duval County Republican Party, with which Foster had an interesting relationship that included a failed attempt to remove him from its ranks, offered tribute.
It is our sad duty to report the passing of REC member, founder of the @JaxYRs, and former Chairman of the @FFYR, Robbie Foster, on Thursday, January 2nd. pic.twitter.com/G2UWysEx55
— Republican Party of Duval County (@DuvalGOP) January 3, 2020
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, who emerged from the Duval County Republican Party to run the Florida GOP and then the city of Jacksonville, likewise said his piece.
“I was shocked to learn of the passing of @RMFosterJr earlier today. I met Robbie many years ago through @pnp07 . He was a friend to many and a friend to the cause he believed in. Robbie was also a member of our church. I pray for his family and am grateful to have known him,” Curry tweeted.
https://twitter.com/JimmyMidyette/status/1213165099680174080
Curry’s Chief Administrative Officer, Brian Hughes, also paid tribute.
“To me,” Hughes said, “being a one-of-a-kind is the best anyone can achieve. Robbie was certainly that.”
“He was part political operator and part court jester,” Hughes added, “and our corner of the world will be less fun without him here.”
Indeed, no one could describe the unique absurdities of regional Republican politics like Foster, whose abilities to describe accurately what was happening at critical moments with the local party were unmatched.
Foster’s candor extended to news cycles about himself too.
In 2016, while working for then-Public Defender Shirk as a spokesman who bridged retail politics and office work, a local Jacksonville news outlet pushed a story spotlighting Foster’s inconsistency in showing up to work at the building.
Fired on his first day under the current PD, Foster’s quote to Action News Jax, when asked if he felt accountable to taxpayers likely, would not have come (on record at least) from anyone else.
“I really don’t think they give a s***,” Foster said.
“I work 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Foster said. “And because you people want to muckrake the story about whether or not I’ve carded in, which is not required by my job, has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of blood, sweat and tears that I have poured into the state of Florida and the public defender’s office,” Foster added.
Foster will not be easily replaced in Florida Republican circles.
