Mike Foster, folksy millionaire and Republican who served 2 terms as Louisiana governor, dies at 90

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Former Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster, who pushed major changes in education policy and lawsuit rules through an increasingly conservative state Legislature in the 1990s, has died. He was 90. Marsanne Golsby, who was Foster’s press secretary when he was governor, said that Foster died Sunday at his home in Franklin, surrounded by relatives. The bald and burly millionaire businessman was a state senator from south Louisiana when he switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party in 1995 and launched what many considered a longshot bid to succeed four-term Gov. Edwin Edwards. Among Foster’s successes were passage of a public school accountability program, creation of a community college system and changes in lawsuit rules that he said were stacked against business.