new york | A defining moment in the life of Max Fisher, the son of immigrants who became a Jewish icon, happened in a meeting with President Eisenhower in 1965.
As head of the United Jewish Appeal, Fisher met the Eisenhower to ask him to address the UJA on the 20th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. During that meeting, Fisher learned something that would change the course of his life.
Eisenhower told Fisher he regretted forcing Israel out of the Sinai when he was president during the 1956 Arab-Israeli War.
“Max, if I had a Jewish adviser working for me, I doubt I would have handled the situation the same way,” Eisenhower is quoted as saying in Fisher’s biography, “Quiet Diplomat,” written by Peter Golden.
“That’s the day that Max figured out what he was going to do. He wanted to be that adviser,” Golden said in a phone interview.
Fisher died March 3 in his home in Detroit. He was 96. Some 1,300 people attended the March 6 funeral in Detroit, according to the Detroit Free Press.
In addition to leading many major Jewish organizations, Fisher exercised enormous political power, personally advising every Republican president since Eisenhower.
“The state of Israel has lost a true friend, who was one of its greatest supporters,” Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in his Cabinet meeting March 6.
“To a large degree it is due to Max Fisher’s activism that approximately 1 million new immigrants came to Israel from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union in the 1990s,” Sharon added.
“I dubbed him the dean of the community, and he certainly was until his last day,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Howard Rieger, president and chief executive officer of the United Jewish Communities, called Fisher a “quintessential Jewish leader and visionary who dominated American Jewish philanthropy for half a century.” Fisher had been honorary chair of the UJC.
For Jane Sherman, one of Fisher’s five children, the outpouring was overwhelming.
“I got a call from Israel,” she said. “They wanted to bury him on Mount Herzl,” the site reserved for Israel’s most celebrated heroes. The family declined.
“He was a role model for us as well as the rest of the world,” she said. “It’s the end of an era, but he leaves a legacy for everyone and not only Jews.”
Fisher was born in Pittsburgh on July 15, 1908, to Russian immigrants. The family soon moved to Salem, Ohio, where Max was one of few Jews growing up.
After attending Ohio State University on a football scholarship, he went on to earn his wealth in oil and real estate. Last year, Forbes valued his fortune at $775 million, ranking him at 383 on its list of the 400 richest people in America. He was also the oldest person on the list.
Those close to him speak in mythic terms of Fisher’s humility and his great ability to mentor and lead communities.
“He was the ultimate leader,” said Robert Aronson, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, where Fisher served several years as president. “He taught people that the most important thing you could do, no matter how wealthy or influential you were, was to give back to your community. That was his spiritual belief.”
Noting that “people listened to Max,” Aronson said, “I would call him the 800-pound gorilla of the Jewish world. There won’t be another like him.”
Jewish philanthropy was his main charitable mission. When much of the Jewish community was still struggling to emerge from the shadow of an immigrant culture, and still often excluded from elite society, Fisher already had made his money.
A friend for 40 years, Joel Tauber said that he, Fisher and others were hungry to rush to Israel’s aid in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the storms surrounding the state’s creation.
“When anything involved Israel or the safety of Jews, we were like fire horses. We heard the bell and we ran.”
Matthew Brooks, the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which Fisher founded in 1985, said, “When he gave advice, people knew not only that the advice was correct, but there were no other hidden agendas.”
Those who had the chance to work with him revered his loyalty, his access and his personal philosophy — patience and persistence.
For example, when Tauber chaired the rocky merger of the Council of Jewish Federations and the United Jewish Appeal, Fisher stood by him when others attempted to derail it, he said.
Former Secretary of State George Shultz said he met with Fisher frequently and worked with him to help organize a “soft landing” for Israel’s inflated economy in the 1980s.
“Every pore of him was constructive,” Shultz said. “He could criticize things but was always looking for something positive, to make it better.”
Shoshana Cardin of Baltimore is a veteran Jewish leader whose politics usually were Democratic. Still, Fisher would invite her to State Department dinners because he thought she could help advance their common cause.
Like others, Cardin last week marveled at Fisher’s dedication and access, noting that he would often call presidents, who took his call immediately. In his absence, the Jewish community will experience the loss of a colossal mentor and father figure, she said.
“There is no Max who can do that now. There is no one who could take his place,” Cardin said.
Howard Kohr, executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said Fisher was the consummate networker, always making sure people got in touch with the people he thought they should know.
“If you look over the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship, it’s hard to find a single private individual who had a greater role on behalf of the state of Israel than Max,” Kohr said.
Former Secretary of State James Baker called Fisher an “extraordinary friend” who was a major force in the Republican Party. “Back in the day when Max started, there were not a lot of prominent Jews supporting the Republican Party. And he built it up really darn good.”
The relationships were also personal. When Fisher fell and broke his hip a year ago, he received phone calls from three presidents — Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
When Fisher entered a room, the head table became wherever he sat, said Rabbi Israel Singer, chairman of the World Jewish Congress.
“Most guys push their way to the front,” he said. But not Max Fisher. Instead, “the front came to him.”