BARD MOURNS
RICHARD B. FISHER Richard B. Fisher, 68, chair and former treasurer of the Board of Trustees of Bard College and recipient of the 2004 Bard Medal, died on December 16, 2004. The chairman emeritus and former president of Morgan Stanley, he was a patron of the arts and a major benefactor of Bard College. Fisher’s extraordinary relationship with Bard began when his daughter, Kate, was attending Simon’s Rock College of Bard in the early 1980s. Fisher was impressed by both the school and the philosophy that guided it, and when Bard president Leon Botstein invited him to join the College’s board in 1989, he accepted. For 15 years Bard had the full benefit of his financial acumen, wisdom, and enthusiasm for the arts and education. His generosity created two endowed professorships, now held by Judy Pfaff and Mary Caponegro, and made possible the Fisher Studio Arts Building and, in 2000, The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, designed by Frank O. Gehry. Fisher bestowed his largesse on many other institutions besides Bard. Along with his wife, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, he was an ardent and magnanimous supporter of Princeton University, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Paris Review Foundation, and Tate Gallery American Fund, among others. At the time of his death, Fisher chaired the boards of The Rockefeller University, Urban Institute, and BAM endowment trust. Born in Philadelphia, Fisher graduated from the William Penn Charter School and earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He joined Morgan Stanley in 1962 and served as the firm’s president from 1984 to 1991 and its chairman from 1991 to 1997. Just prior to stepping down as chairman, he helped to negotiate the landmark $10.9 billion merger that combined Morgan Stanley with Dean Witter.
As the presenters of the 2004 Bard Medal noted, however, the key to Fisher’s achievement was not merely his financial wizardry. “What has made him stand apart is his wisdom and the human qualities of empathy, insight, generosity, and honor,” wrote David E. Schwab II ’52 and Judy Pfaff, who sponsored Fisher for the award. “He is a prince in a world not known for its surplus of nobility.” In comments to Bloomberg, L.P., after Fisher’s death, Botstein said, “Richard B. Fisher was remarkable. He had all the opportunity to be corrupt—he had wealth, power, and position—but he gave the lie to the phrase, ‘Nice guys finish last.’ His manner was so kindly, so humble, one couldn’t quite reconcile this with the august position he had. If Hollywood were making a film about captains of industry, he’d never have passed central casting. Yet beneath his gentle manner was a visionary, clear, and decisive intellect. He had the gift of friendship and virtue, in part as a result of the discipline and courage he developed conquering polio and its consequences.” Fisher is survived by his wife, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, who serves on the Board of Directors of the Bard Music Festival and chairs the Fisher Center Advisory Board; his daughter, Kate Fisher; two sons, Alexander Fisher MFA ’96 and Richard Britton Fisher; and a brother, David W. Fisher. He is also survived by Emily H. Fisher, the mother of his children, who serves on Bard’s Board of Trustees and chairs the Board of Overseers of Simon’s Rock College of Bard. A memorial service took place on January 12 at Manhattan’s Riverside Church. It included poetry readings by Fisher’s sons, tributes by colleagues and friends, including Leon Botstein, and several of Fisher’s favorite compositions, including the Brahms Alto Rhapsody, played by the American Symphony Orchestra, with Botstein conducting.