Nancy Foster

Nancy Foster Geraci (born Nancy Marie Foster; died June 27, 2000) was the director of the National Ocean Service. She is known for her work in protecting marine environments, linking conservation groups and fisherman, and expanding research in marine environments.

Early life and education Nancy Foster was born in Electra, Texas, received her undergraduate degree from Texas Woman's College, and went on to earn a master's degree in marine biology from Texas Christian University. She earned her Ph.D. in marine biology from George Washington University in 1969. A Smithsonian associate in the late 1960s while at George Washington, she conducted a portion of her dissertation research with Meredith Leam Jones and Marian H. Pettibone at the Smithsonian Institution. Her students included Cynthia Ahearn. As director, she led a reorganization of the NMFS and to make it into a more efficient, responsive, and scientifically rigorous agency and also created the NOAA Habitat Restoration Center and the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank.

Foster died of a brain tumor at her home in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 27, 2000, at the age of 59.

Honors and awards NOAAS Nancy Foster is a NOAA coastal oceanography vessel.In 1993, Foster received a Department of Commerce Gold Medal.

In 2000, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) honored Foster by creating a scholarship program in her name for women and members of minority groups. The Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program was signed into law on November 13, 2000. In the spring of 2000, and she received the Fred M. Packard Award in 2000 to recognize her work in establishing marine protected areas.

, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel, was commissioned on May 10, 2004. The Nancy Foster was originally built as a Navy yard torpedo test craft, Agate Pass (YTT 12), at McDermott Shipyards in Amelia, Louisiana, and launched in September 1990. In 2001, the Navy transferred the vessel to NOAA, outfitted to conduct coastal research along the United States East and Gulf Coasts and in the Caribbean.

Personal life While a Smithsonian associate in the 1960s, Foster met and married Roger Cressey. They later divorced. Foster's later marriage to Jerry Cramer also ended in divorce. She married Joseph R. Geraci in May 2000.