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Honoring a Legacy: Celebrating Tom Foster Day at Bullion Plaza

Tom Foster, the late Director of Bullion Plaza Museum. Photo by LCGross

There are moments in a business or organization that you can look back on and think we wouldn’t be here today if not for moments like this. 

Inflection points that completely alter the outlook and possibilities. These pivotal moments can be obvious like the landmark deal to save Bullion Plaza from destruction in 1995, or more subtle, as in a chance opportunity that unexpectedly snowballs into a breakthrough partnership. 

For the museum, that breakthrough came when Tom Foster walked through the door.

He first volunteered for the museum in 2003. 

As he noted in an interview for the museum’s 100th anniversary: 

“They were just getting started and needed volunteers with museum experience, so I went to a board meeting. They had gone through a laundry list of ideas for the building: a FEMA management center, a retirement home, a police station or town hall.” 

Instead, they settled on a museum and appointed Tom Foster, as its executive director. 

The partnership would enable the nascent concept of saving the building to blossom into the reality of a museum of note with statewide recognition. 

He not only understood how to curate exhibitions and collections, overseeing these with scholarly rigor, artistic integrity and audience appeal, but was adept at securing donations, writing grants and developing strong relationships both within our community and statewide, which paid off time and time again. 

As Bullion Plaza Museum’s director, he saw his job as not just managing day-to-day operations but inspiring the organization and stakeholders to reach new heights. By aligning curatorial vision, financial stewardship, community engagement, and organizational culture, his tenure was defined by the quality of his work and personal connections, which secured Bullion’s bona fides as a Museum and Cultural Center. 

At the time of his death, he had completed the renovation of two rooms on the second floor designated as the Ed Pastor rooms, thanks to generous donations by the family in terms of money and artifacts. Pastor was a well-respected and much-loved native son who grew up in Miami, served 23 years in Congress and was one of the founding supporters of saving Bullion Plaza in the late 1990s. (The work of curating an exhibit and opening the rooms to the public has been taken over by the Board and the Pastor family who are hoping to announce an opening this winter) 

A Tom Foster Day on January 18 is designed to celebrate the man and the museum.

About Linda Gross

Writer, photographer. Passionate foodie, lover of good books and storytelling. Lives in Globe. Plays in the historic district. Travels when possible.

One comment

  1. Yes, Tom Foster was utterly amazing! He poured his heart and soul into developing a first rate museum, and made it his mission to connect Bullion Plaza Cultural Center & Museum to statewide recognition. His knowledge in a wide variety of areas was utterly astounding! I had the privilege of working with him at the museum for 12 years…

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