Marcus Aurelius Foster (March 31, 1923 – November 6, 1973) was an American educator who gained a national reputation for educational excellence while serving as principal of Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1966–1969), as Associate Superintendent of Schools in Philadelphia (1969–1970), and as the first black Superintendent of a large city school district. He was appointed in 1970 as Superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District in Oakland, California. Foster was assassinated in 1973 by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a newly founded leftist terrorist group.