Max M. Fisher Dies

[jimotis4heisman]

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[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]101 Fisher Hall
2100 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210-1144
(614) 292-2181
fisher.osu.edu[/font]​

I am deeply saddened to be informing you of the death of Max Fisher. Max, who had been in Florida, was able to get back to his family in Michigan before he died and that was important to him as well as those he loved. Services will be held on Sunday in Detroit and college representatives will be present for those services.

The commitment of Max Fisher and his family has been pivotal in the college’s development. Not only did Max provide financial support that acted as a catalyst for other significant giving but he also placed a consistent emphasis on the need to attract and support the highest quality faculty, staff and students. His concern for our ability to then take these elements and reflect them in leading edge programming served as a constant reminder of our mission. Indeed, the values that are at the core of our brand can be seen reflected in the career and life of Max Fisher. He has been a model for those who are committed to making a positive difference in the world around them. While his institutional impact has been remarkable, on a personal level I will miss him as a close advisor and friend.

I wanted you to know of this development as soon as possible. I know you join me in offering condolences to the Fisher family on their loss.

Joe

Joseph A. Alutto, Dean
Fisher College of Business and
John W. Berry, Sr. Chair in Business

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[BuckeyeBaiter]

Thanks Otis, Mr Fisher was a true Buckeye.

 

[bucknut11]

Sad to hear this. He's from my hometown (Salem), so I'll post anything tomorrow assuming it's in the paper.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

http://dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/03/04/20050304-B1-00.html&chck=t

MAX M. FISHER | 1908-2005
OSU, corporate leaders mourn loss
Namesake of business school called generous with his time, money
Friday, March 04, 2005
Barnet D . Wolf
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


The man whose name graces the business school at Ohio State University died yesterday in suburban Detroit.

Max M. Fisher, a wealthy businessman and philanthropist who graduated from OSU in 1930, was 96.

Fisher served as an adviser to presidents and business executives, including Leslie H. Wexner, the founder, chairman and chief executive of Limited Brands.

"I am deeply saddened by the loss of my dear friend and mentor," Wexner said yesterday. "Max has been a great benefactor for the Ohio State University and the community at large. He will be sorely missed."

Fisher contributed $20 million in 1993 to begin a fund-raising campaign to build the university’s $150 million, six-building businesscollege complex.

At the time, the gift was the largest for an individual academic department at OSU and the second-biggest for the university.

"He’s clearly one of the reasons I came to Ohio State," said Joseph Alutto, dean of the Fisher College of Business.

"We had similar ideas, that you build (a school) by having the best faculty and best students and put them in an environment where they can grow and flourish. He was all about people."

Fisher said he wanted to spur his alma mater to create one of the world’s premier management institutions.

"I had been asked before to help with a building, but I wasn’t interested in just a building," he said in 1993. "I wanted something new, dynamic and meaningful — not just for the school, but the country."

At the time, Ohio State’s business school was not ranked among the top 25 in the country. That bothered Fisher.

"I felt that wasn’t right. I’ve always felt Ohio State should have the best," he said.

Last year, the Max M. Fisher College of Business’ MBA program was ranked the nation’s 19 th best by U.S. News and World Report. Five specialty programs within the school were listed in the top 20.

OSU President Karen Holbrook said Fisher was a "truly exceptional friend" of the school.

"His generosity enabled the university to reach the top tier of business schools nationwide," she said.

Fisher returned to the campus from his home in Franklin, Mich., at least once a year to talk with students and faculty.

"It was one of the things students looked forward to every year," Alutto said. "He listened to their aspirations and talked about what was important. He loved to meet with them."

From humble roots in smalltown eastern Ohio, Fisher eventually became one of the country’s wealthiest individuals. His net worth was estimated at $775 million by Forbes magazine.

He was born in Pittsburgh on July 15, 1908, the first of four children of Russian immigrants. His father was a peddler who eventually started a business in Salem, in Columbiana County.

According to his biography, Quiet Diplomat, written by Peter Golden, the Fishers were among the few Jewish families in Salem. That’s where he learned to deal diplomatically with others, which became a key to his success.

"Fisher’s capacity to live in two worlds, one Jewish, one Christian, was among the distinctive talents that he took with him from Salem," Golden wrote.

Fisher went to Ohio State on a football scholarship, arriving in Columbus, he said, with an extra pair of pants and dreams of a better life. His football career ended after an injury.

The businessman later would tell students that his years at OSU broadened his view of the world, Alutto said.

Fisher graduated with a business degree and went to work as a $15-a-week salesman for his father, who then was in the oilreclamation business in Detroit.

Thanks to his instincts and ability to build business relationships, Fisher expanded the company into a refinery enterprise, Aurora Gasoline. It owned Speedway gas stations across the Midwest.

He sold the business in 1959 to Marathon Oil.

Fisher invested in a number of stock and real-estate deals that made him one of the country’s wealthiest men.

Since the 1950s, Fisher had spent much of his free time raising money for Israel, and he was a leader of almost every major Jewish organization.

His business background led him to the Republican party, where he became a major contributor and a behind-thescenes adviser to four GOP presidents, particularly on Jewish issues and the Middle East.

"My fundamental responsibility was as an American," he told his biographer. "Then as an American Jewish leader. And finally, I had my love for Israel."

Fisher received more than a dozen honorary degrees from universities, including OSU, and numerous awards from civic groups. He was a board member of Comerica Inc. and Sotheby’s and a former board member of a dozen other public companies.

Most recently, he gave $10 million to help build Detroit’s symphony hall, which opened in 2003 as the Max M. Fisher Music Center, known as "The Max."

Fisher is survived by his wife, Marjorie, five children, two sisters, 15 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

His son, Phillip, is on the advisory board at the Fisher College, which plans a tribute to Fisher at an undetermined date.

[email protected]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/04/national/04fisher.html

Max Fisher, 96, Philanthropist and Adviser to Presidents, Dies

</NYT_HEADLINE><NYT_BYLINE version="1.0" type=" ">[size=-1]By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [/size]
</NYT_BYLINE>

Published: March 4, 2005

<NYT_TEXT>

ETROIT, March 3 (AP) - Max M. Fisher, the Detroit oil and real estate magnate known for his philanthropy and for the advice he gave Republican presidents on the Middle East and Jewish issues, died on Thursday at his home in Franklin, a Detroit suburb. He was 96.

The death was announced by David Techner, funeral director at the Ira Kaufman Chapel.

Mr. Fisher's fortune was estimated at $775 million last year in Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the nation's 400 wealthiest individuals.

Mr. Fisher was particularly active in Jewish affairs, orchestrating an international campaign of support for Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Republican presidents starting with Dwight D. Eisenhower sought his advice on Middle Eastern affairs and Jewish issues.

Former Gov. John Engler, a Republican, said on Thursday that Mr. Fisher wielded his greatest influence behind the scenes.

In "Quiet Diplomat: A Biography of Max M. Fisher" (Cornwall Books, 1992), Peter Golden described how President Gerald R. Ford and his secretary of state, Henry A. Kissinger, asked Mr. Fisher in 1975 to help heal a diplomatic rift between the United States and Israel over relations with Egypt.

"My fundamental responsibility was as an American," the book quoted Mr. Fisher as saying. "Then as an American Jewish leader. And finally, I had my love for Israel."

Max Martin Fisher was born on July 15, 1908, in Pittsburgh to immigrants from Russia. He grew up in Salem, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University on a football scholarship. He moved to Detroit in 1933 to join his father's oil reclamation business as a $15-a-week salesman, then formed his own gasoline company with two partners in 1933.

The company, Aurora Gasoline, became one of the largest independent oil companies in the Midwest, with nearly 700 Speedway gas stations. He served as chairman until 1959, when the Marathon Oil Company bought out Aurora.

Mr. Fisher retired from business in 1963, allowing him to devote his time, energy and money to a spectrum of causes.

He served as an adviser or board member of more than a dozen corporations, including Comerica Inc., and Sotheby's, the London auction house once led by his friend A. Alfred Taubman.

Mr. Fisher headed several Jewish-American organizations including the United Jewish Appeal, the Council of Jewish Federations and the American Jewish Committee.

He also founded the National Jewish Coalition, an organization of Jewish Republicans, and was one of the top donors to the Foundation for Florida's Future, created in 1995 by Gov. Jeb Bush to promote conservative ideas.

But Mr. Fisher's activities extended far beyond Jewish and Republican causes. He was committed to the city of Detroit, working to rebuild the urban core and mend race relations in the wake of the 1967 riots. That work earned him admirers across party lines. He helped found Detroit Renaissance, a nonprofit business group that sought to improve conditions in the city and region, and New Detroit, an organization that works to improve public education and race relations in the region.

Mr. Fisher was a major benefactor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra's new home, dedicated in October 2003, is called the Max M. Fisher Music Center, or, more simply the Max.

His name is also on the business school at Ohio State, to which he contributed $20 million.

Mr. Fisher's first wife, Sylvia Krell Fisher, died in 1952. He is survived by his wife, Marjorie Switow Fisher, whom he married in 1953; a daughter from his first marriage, Jane Fisher Sherman; two stepchildren, Mary and Phillip, and two children from his second marriage, Marjorie Fisher Aronow and Julie Fisher Cummings.

Mary Fisher became an advocate for AIDS patients after announcing in 1992 that she had contracted H.I.V. from her former husband; she spoke at the Republican National Conventions in 1992 and 1996.

 

[Thump]

Sad to hear this. He's from my hometown (Salem), so I'll post anything tomorrow assuming it's in the paper.

I knew a girl from Salem once.

 

[bucknut11]

I knew a girl from Salem once.

Oh really?

Max Fisher, multimillionaire Salem grad, dies at 96

Staff/wire reports

DETROIT - Max Fisher, a Salem High School graduate who made millions in oil and real estate and poured them back into Jewish philanthropy, Republican politics and his adopted city of Detroit, died Thursday. He was 96.
Fisher died at his home in Franklin, said David Techner, funeral director at the Ira Kaufman Chapel,

Fisher's fortune was estimated at $680 million in Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the nation's 400 wealthiest individuals in 2003.

Fisher was born July 15, 1908, in Pittsburgh to immigrant Russian parents. He grew up in Salem and graduated in 1926 from Salem High School. According to the Salem High School Alumni Association, almost $200,000 has been awarded in Max Fisher Scholarship Awards since 1973.

He attended Ohio State University on a football scholarship. In 1993, Fisher gave $20 million to the OSU College of Business, which is now named after him.

He moved to Detroit in 1933 to join his father's oil reclamation business as a $15-a-week salesman, then formed his own gasoline company with two other men in 1933.

Fisher's Aurora Gasoline became one of the largest independent oil companies in the Midwest, with nearly 700 Speedway gas stations. He served as chairman until 1959, when Marathon Oil Co. bought Aurora.

Fisher retired from business in 1963, allowing him to devote his time, energy and money to a spectrum of causes.

As head of United Jewish Appeal, he orchestrated an international campaign for Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

"In the world of Jewish volunteer leaders, Max Fisher was a giant,'' Howard Rieger, president and chief executive of the United Jewish Communities, said in a statement. "He was known to all, whether heads of state in Israel or the United States, or the leadership of the Jewish and general communities in the United States, as a prime mover - as someone who made things happen.''

In 1977, Fisher, automaker Henry Ford II and shopping mall developer Alfred Taubman outbid Mobil Oil Co. for Irvine Ranch, a 73,000-acre tract of undeveloped land south of Los Angeles. Their $337 million offer shocked real estate experts who said the group would never recoup its investment. Six years later, the group sold the land for $1 billion.

Fisher was a major benefactor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and helped found Detroit Renaissance, a nonprofit business round-table aimed at improving conditions in the city and region.

His son, New York real estate magnate Stephen M. Ross, gave the University of Michigan business school $100 million last year.

Republican presidents from Dwight Eisenhower onward sought Fisher's advice on Middle Eastern affairs and Jewish issues.

According to "Quiet Diplomat: A Biography of Max M. Fisher,'' by Peter Golden, President Ford and his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, asked Fisher in 1975 to help heal a diplomatic rift between the United States and Israel over relations with Egypt.

"My fundamental responsibility was as an American,'' the book quoted Fisher as saying. "Then as an American Jewish leader. And finally, I had my love for Israel.''

Fisher headed Jewish-American organizations including the United Jewish Appeal, the Council of Jewish Federations and the American Jewish Committee. The UJA and the council later merged and are now known as United Jewish Communities.

He founded the National Jewish Coalition, an organization of Jewish Republicans, and was one of the top donors to the Foundation for Florida's Future, created in 1995 by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to promote conservative ideas.

He served as an adviser or board member of more than a dozen corporations, including Comerica Inc. and Sotheby's, the London auction house once chaired by his friend Taubman.

http://www.salemnews.net/news/story/034202005_new02fisher.asp

 

[HelpIsOntheWay]

well i graduated from the fisher college of business...so thank you max.