George Foos; Retailing Executive Aided Minority Students

Long after he realized his own potential, the poor boy from New Jersey worked to make sure other beleaguered youths had chances to develop theirs.

More than 30 years ago, he founded Higher Education for Los Angeles Minorities to pay, not only tuition, but also the costs of transportation, clothing, food and social activities for minority youths who demonstrated greater future possibilities than their past performances indicates.

That was only one of his projects.

George Foos, a nationally known retailing executive who once headed Los Angeles’ May Co. and San Francisco’s domed Emporium department stores, died Monday in San Francisco of prostate cancer. He was 79.

A native of Camden, N.J., Foos joined the former St. Louis-based May Co. chain with its Kaufmann’s store in Pittsburgh. He moved to Los Angeles in 1966 as executive vice president of merchandising and sales promotion for May Co. California and was named president five years later.

During Foos’ tenure with the Southern California division, the number of stores doubled to 24. He also helped develop the Sherman Oaks Galleria.

He moved to San Francisco in 1977 as chairman of the Emporium Capwell division of the Carter Hawley Hale chain, which at that time had, among other properties, 67 department stores throughout the Southwest that included Broadway, Emporium, Capwell’s and Weinstock’s.

Foos was in charge of 16 of the stores in Northern California, most notably downtown San Francisco’s landmark Emporium, where he led restoration of its original dome, a showpiece in retail architecture. In 1982, he was promoted to vice president for corporate development for Carter Hawley Hale stores.

Always determined to provide equal opportunity in education, Foos and his late wife, Helen, started the scholarship project in 1968 when he was May Co. executive vice president.

“We are undertaking the first massive citizens effort in Southern California,” Foos told The Times, “to aid the average student, the non-achiever and even the dropout with financial assistance for educational achievement.”

He said he hoped to foster a change for minority youths from disillusionment to success in college and in life.

In San Francisco, Foos served on the Chamber of Commerce board and was active on the mayor’s fiscal advisory committee and with the San Francisco Symphony.

In both San Francisco and Los Angeles, he was a leader in several Jewish organizations, serving as president of the areas’ American Jewish Committees. In 1981, the Los Angeles chapter awarded him its human relations leadership achievement award.

Foos worked with San Francisco’s Jewish Community Federation and was a founding board member of the American Jewish World Service Organization.

He also instilled his passion for community service in his three surviving sons: Richard, founder of Los Angeles-based Rhino Records who just received a lifetime achievement award for his work with Amnesty International; Garson, Rhino’s senior vice president for marketing; and David, a judicial official in Sacramento.

A memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. today at Sinai Memorial Chapel, 1501 Divisadero St., San Francisco.

The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to the American Jewish Committee, 121 Stewart St., Suite 405, San Francisco, CA 94105, or to the American Jewish World Service Organization, 989 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10018.