If you were going by appearances or reputation alone, you’d likely have him pegged as a no-nonsense, maybe even gruff sort. He speaks in a straightforward, direct way and is all business – the kind of man you’d imagine to be about getting the job done, with no interest in wasting time.

Physically, Foster is built like the trunk of a California Redwood – strong and seemingly immovable. His large hand envelops your own in a handshake, and a deep voice booms his greeting.

But Bob Foster has a secret – this bear of a man is actually a teddy bear. In addition to being a successful businessman (he was the President of Southern California Edison before becoming Mayor) as well as an innovative city administrator. He is the ultimate family man, enjoying the time spent with his children and grandchildren.

Throughout the holiday season Mayor Foster is a busy man, but his obligations at this time of year have him working more in conjunction with Claus than council. Perhaps no-one knows this better than his wife Nancy, for they have shared almost 41 Christmases together.

“Holidays have always been a special time and Bob has always taken a real interest in buying gifts for the children,” she says. “He enjoys his shopping that he does by himself. He takes it seriously!”

Mayor Foster agrees with his wife. “I am a big shopper. If shopping were an Olympic sport, I would win gold, “ he enthuses. “I’m not a baker and I’m not a cook. Don’t get me in the kitchen – that’s not my thing, but I love shopping for gifts. I love going to Costco. I will go up and down every aisle to make sure I don’t miss anything.”

Foster also employs a little ingenuity in the process of gifting as well. One time he phoned his wife after he had left for the day, and asked her to look for his wallet under a shirt in his home office. When Mrs. Foster looked under the shirt, she discovered a diamond bracelet waiting for her.

She shares, “He surprised me in such a thoughtful way and I will always remember. Bob has always put a lot of thought into his gifts.” It is not just friends and family who benefit from such generosity. Mayor Foster says that it is important to him and his wife that they share their good fortune with others.

“There are organizations that will have families that will not have a Christmas because they just don’t have the resources,” he says. “So we’ll try to adopt two or three of those families and we’ll get how many children they have, what their sizes are, what the adults might need. It’s usually very basic stuff like shoes and clothing. We’ll always add a toy in for kids so they have something.”

All giving is done anonymously, he says, to help those who can’t help themselves at the time, or who have had bad luck or have fallen on hard times.

He explains, “Most of these are working families, it’s not as if they are people who are just sitting around. They’re actually working, they just have very low wage jobs and they may have a lot of children and it’s very difficult for them to make things work.”

Mayor Foster also goes out with the Long Beach Fire Department to make deliveries to families who would otherwise go without. His eyes twinkle as he describes what it is like to witness what must be a Christmas miracle in a Long Beach family’s life.

“You just see the families – these are people that will really have no Christmas. And they [firefighters] come in and they’ll bring bicycles and food. The look on people’s faces is amazing,” he says. “It’s so basically somebody has a Christmas and experiences, particularly as a kid, that all of us did. All those memories that we have, there are people that don’t have those memories.”

Foster’s fondest memories of his own Christmases past includes a special gift he received as a young boy – an entire box of 30 or 40 packages of little Cowboys and Indians figurines to play with. “That was over the top. I still remember that to this day!” he says enthusiastically.

As Foster’s tastes in lore have grown more sophisticated – from Cowboys and Indians to a study of the Roman Republic, a favorite hobby, so have the memorable gifts he has been given. His favorite recent gift is a Roman Legionnaire’s helmet he was given by a friend two Christmases ago.

His recollections also include a certain feeling. “Remember when you couldn’t wait for Christmas?” he asks. “When you were a kid, there was always a certain feeling around the holiday times. You never quite get that feeling back again, it really is amazing.”

Even through the yearning for the “good old days”, the holiday spirit runs deep in his veins; a trait that was inherited from his father, the family patriarch who passed away a little over three years ago.

“We really miss my Dad,” Foster says. “It was a big deal for him. One of the things I concentrate on is trying to keep the family together because that was really something that was very important to him and I promised him I would do that. I try to make sure that we don’t go into our own little worlds.”

Bob Foster may enjoy sharing special times and giving special gifts, but his spirit of goodwill exists all year long. This fact is supported by his close friend of over 25 years, Jack O’Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction with the California Department of Education.

Three years ago, following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Superintendent O’Connell started the California Kids Care program, to motivate school kids to send donations of whatever they could spare to the people who needed help in Louisiana. Six-year-old Joe Aubuchon from Long Beach surprised everyone with his commitment.

Superintendent O’Connell describes what happened.

“It’s one of the most heartwarming experiences I‘ve ever felt,” he says. “I wanted to suggest you collect pennies or whatever, to help students in Louisiana and make it voluntary. We got tipped off that there was a student who gave his whole piggy bank.”

An assembly of a few classes of children was gathered, and O’Connell, Bob Foster (who was running for Mayor at the time), and some school officials spoke, and then invited young Joe to make his contribution.

“This little boy walked up and said he wanted to give his whole piggybank,” Superintendent O’Connell remembers, “It was over $200! I asked the boy, ‘Well what were you saving this money for?’ He was the cutest little boy, he said, ‘For a puppy dog.’”

When Superintendent O’Connell sat back down, he and Bob Foster decided they would get the young boy his own dog, thinking that just any pup could do. It turns out the boy had his eye on a rare (and expensive) purebred White German Shepherd! But the men decided that they’d still go in on it together.

O’Connell continues, “And so Bob and I were going to split the cost of the dog and then Bob being as generous as he is, he sent me back my check. So Bob ended up paying for the whole dog. He won’t tell you that, but that’s what happened. It really was a highlight and every time I see Bob, he and I talk about it and I think of Marshmallow, which was what he named the dog. It’s a great story.”

Superintendent O’Connell knows this side of Mayor Foster from this experience and others during the many years the two men have been friends, and describes him as smart, considerate, thoughtful, and a “superstar”. O’Connell says that Long Beach is lucky to have Bob Foster as our Mayor.

Mayor Foster would say he is lucky to have us.

“I often tell people it’s the best place I’ve ever lived and I don’t plan on ever leaving,” he says. “What’s great about where I live is it really is a community. It’s not like in most suburban areas where you pull into your garage and you don’t even see your neighbors. We talk to people, we go around and say hi, and everybody feels comfortable coming up and knocking on our door. It’s a real jewel, I love it.”