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THE FISHER GIFT

President Robert Caret unveiled a banner proclaiming the new name of the college at a press conference on Monday, June 13, 2005.

TU announces $10.2 million gift to College of Science and Mathematics

Endowment is largest in school's history; college to be named in honor of Jess Fisher

by Brian Stelter
June 13, 2005

The endowment has been directed to Towson by trustees of the Robert M. Fisher Memorial Foundation. Jess Fisher, a Baltimore native who attended Towson in the 1930s and later became a real estate developer and philanthropist, established the foundation to honor his son.

“Not only is this gift the largest ever received by Towson University, it is utterly transformational -- particularly for our College of Science and Mathematics, which will from now on be known as the Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics,” President Robert Caret said.

Fisher passed away in 2003 at the age of 89. The gift to Towson is the foundation’s largest to date. (Prior to the announcement, the foundation’s largest gift was $1 million.)

The University unveiled the gift at a press conference in the Minnegan Room at Johnny Unitas Stadium. The theme of the celebration was "Towson University Leaps Ahead!"

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich was on hand for the announcement.  He called the day “incredibly important” for Towson, and said the $10.2 million gift creates a foundation for future donations.

“Today is an incredible day for the school and the institution, but I look at it as a beginning -- the beginning of a series of announcements over the coming years with respect to major gifts made to this school. It is my expectation, and it is my challenge,” Ehrlich said.

Gary Rubin, Towson’s vice president for University advancement, is ready to embrace the challenge.

“This gift is earmarked for the college of science and math, and hopefully we’ll get other like gifts for some of the other colleges so we can name them too,” Rubin said in an interview after the announcement.

Some students and faculty members also attended the press conference.

“It’s nice to hear that the science department is getting more money to do more things with, because I always feel like we’re left out,” senior physics education major Robert Kennedy said.

The funds will be used in several ways:

• To establish The Jess and Mildred Fisher Endowed Chair in the Biological and Physical Sciences
• To establish the Jess Fisher Class of 1934 Pre-engineering Scholarship Endowment in Memory of Robert M. Fisher
• To establish the Jess Fisher Class of 1934 College of Science and Mathematics Scholarship Endowment in Memory of Cecilia Fisher Rudman
• To enhance the general endowment fund for the Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics

The details will be worked out over the summer, Rubin said.

The gift was the result of months of work on the part of the University's development office.  President Caret said he was “blown away” when he learned that the gift had been secured.

“I just thought, this is such a great omen of what the future’s going to look like,” he said. “From the time I returned [to Towson in 2003], we’ve been building the development staff. I just think it’s critical for the future of the campus, given how funding is going, that we become more self-sufficient. Hopefully we’ll bring in more gifts of this size during the capital campaign.”

• Who was Jess Fisher

Reprinted from The Towerlight.

The Jess and Mildred Fisher
College of Science and Mathematics
Smith Hall, Room 312 (campus map)

Phone: 410-704-2121
Fax: 410-704-2604
E-mail: fcsm@towson.edu