Dick Fischer Collection
About the Collection
New York native Dick Fischer entered Harvard College in 1955 with a Harvard Honorary Freshman Scholarship. While there, he played on the freshman ice hockey team and three years on the varsity ice hockey team. Fischer graduated with honors in 1959, earning a bachelor’s degree in English. He postponed law school for one year to participate in the pre-season training camp for the Chicago Black Hawks (one of only six major league hockey teams at the time), and try-out sessions for the 1960 US Olympic Team. He was offered a contract with the Chicago Black Hawks.
In 1960, Dick married Malinda Berry and the couple moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He enter Harvard Law School where he served as President of the Harvard Voluntary Defenders whose members represented indigent people accused of crime in the lower criminal courts. After graduating from law school Fischer was admitted to the New York Bar in 1963. Immediately upon graduation, Fischer served as a law clerk with the New York State Court of Appeals.
For the next 30 years of his professional life, Fischer worked for the law firm of Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle in Rochester, New York. He was a member of the firm’s task force on governance that studied, proposed and implemented a new form of governance in 1991 and was a member of the first firmwide governing policy committee from 1991 to 1995.
During his time in Rochester, Fischer served for three years as Chairman of the Board of Highland Hospital as well as a member of the Rochester Area Hospitals Board of Directors. He chaired the Board of the Harley School, the Harvard Club of Rochester, and the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton Ball fundraiser. Dick has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in the World and The Nichols School (Buffalo, New York) Athletic Hall of Fame.
Fischer retired from the 240-attorney, six-office, 120-year-old law firm as managing partner and main ethics partner to move to Stillwater. Here, he has been a member of the boards of the United Way, CASA, Turning Point Ranch, the OSU Friends of Music, Allied Arts, Cowboy Golf, the College of Education and Human Sciences Advisory Board, and the OSU Art Advocates. At the OSU Spears School of Business, Fischer has taught classes in personal finance and world trade. He also served on committees of the Oklahoma Bar Association. In 2019, Dick and his wife Malinda were inducted to OSU’s Proud and Immortal Society for having given $1 million or more cumulatively to OSU.
In 2021, Dick donated more than 700 books from his personal collection to the OSU Libraries. These items can be found in our Archives, the main collection and on special display on the third floor of the Edmon Low Library in the Action, Adventure, and Mystery Collection.
ITEMS IN THE FISCHER COLLECTION