Donald Fisher
Encyclopedia
Donald George Fisher was an American
businessman who founded The Gap clothing stores.
, to Jewish
parents, Sydney Fisher, businessman, and Aileen Emanuel, a cabinetmaker. He spent his childhood in the then-middle-class Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco. He graduated from Lowell High School
in 1946, and then matriculated at the University of California, Berkeley
, where he was a member of the both the Swimming and Water Polo Teams. He is an alumnus of the Theta Zeta chapter of the national fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon
. He earned a BS
degree from the School of Business Administration
at the University of California, Berkeley
in 1951.
Named 2007 Alumnus of the Year, Fisher had a robust college experience at Berkeley where his nickname was ‘Horny Fish’ and where he was caught cheating by then-Professor Clark Kerr
. Kerr gave Fisher an F, but did not have him expelled. Had he been expelled, he writes, [it] “would have changed my life completely.” Fisher says he still thinks about his cheating and Kerr's response today.
According to Forbes
magazine, his net worth was estimated to be US$3.3 billion. Fisher was a Republican
, active in San Francisco politics. He was a founding Board Member of the Presidio Trust (the public corporation that runs the Presidio of San Francisco
), a post nominated by the President of the United States. He was married to Doris Feigenbaum, and was a long-time member of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. Their three sons continue to manage the business.
charter schools—a national network of low-income, high-achieving college preparatory public charter schools: he was the chairman of the board of trustees of the KIPP Foundation, the non-profit central organization of the KIPP
network. He was also a contributor to Teach For America
, GreatSchools.net, and EdVoice, a state-wide coalition of California business leaders and others who support education reform. Fisher also served on the California State Board of Education
. Fisher and his family donated a generous sum of money to Princeton University
in 2006, and the Fisher Hall dormitory at Princeton's new residential college, Whitman College
, is named for him. He has also donated to charter school
s and museum
s in San Francisco, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
, and paid for public sculptures in San Francisco. In 2007, Fisher was honored as the Alumnus of the Year by the California Alumni Association at the University of California, Berkeley. He also contributed to many Bay Area Jewish causes, including the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco and the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.
(a for-profit educational management organization
), was found to be funneling "soft money
" into the campaigns of pro-Edison board members during San Francisco's school board election on whether to break contract with Edison. The consulting firm Barnes, Mosher, Whitehurst, Lauter and Partners funded approximately $50,100 to a group called "San Franciscans for Sensible Government" that was distributing campaign flyers for Mary Hernandez, Stephen Herman, and Robert Varni. The pro-Edison campaign was not successful in preventing a new anti-privatization majority of four to three in the San Francisco Unified School Board.
Western art. In 1993, ARTnews
Magazine declared Fisher one of the top ten art collectors in the world. His collection, largely housed at the Gap headquarters in San Francisco, includes comprehensive, career-spanning works by Andy Warhol
, Alexander Calder
and Roy Lichtenstein
, Ellsworth Kelly
, Gerhard Richter
, Anselm Kiefer
, Chuck Close
, and Claes Oldenburg
.
On August 8, 2007, Fisher announced plans to build a 100000 square feet (9,290.3 m²) museum in the San Francisco Presidio, tentatively named the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio, to house his art collection. The museum, if it had been built, would have been larger than the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
(SFMOMA). However, the plan engendered widespread skepticism and even outright antagonism among some historic preservationists in San Francisco.
In July 2009, Fisher announced that he and his wife were abandoning their efforts to build the museum at San Francisco's Presidio, stating "Doris and I will take some time to consider the future of our collection and other possible locations for a museum, which could include other sites within the Presidio and elsewhere." In September 2009, Donald and Doris Fisher decided to enter into a partnership with SFMOMA to display the world famous collection.
at home on Sunday morning, September 27, 2009.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman who founded The Gap clothing stores.
Personal history
Fisher was born in Cutsdean, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, to Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
parents, Sydney Fisher, businessman, and Aileen Emanuel, a cabinetmaker. He spent his childhood in the then-middle-class Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco. He graduated from Lowell High School
Lowell High School (San Francisco)
Lowell High School is a public magnet school in San Francisco, California. The school opened in 1856 as the Union Grammar School and attained its current name in 1896. Lowell moved to its current location in the Merced Manor neighborhood in 1962....
in 1946, and then matriculated at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, where he was a member of the both the Swimming and Water Polo Teams. He is an alumnus of the Theta Zeta chapter of the national fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
. He earned a BS
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree from the School of Business Administration
Haas School of Business
The Walter A. Haas School of Business, also known as the Haas School of Business or simply Haas, is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley....
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1951.
Named 2007 Alumnus of the Year, Fisher had a robust college experience at Berkeley where his nickname was ‘Horny Fish’ and where he was caught cheating by then-Professor Clark Kerr
Clark Kerr
Clark Kerr was an American professor of economics and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley and twelfth president of the University of California.- Early years :...
. Kerr gave Fisher an F, but did not have him expelled. Had he been expelled, he writes, [it] “would have changed my life completely.” Fisher says he still thinks about his cheating and Kerr's response today.
According to Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine, his net worth was estimated to be US$3.3 billion. Fisher was a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, active in San Francisco politics. He was a founding Board Member of the Presidio Trust (the public corporation that runs the Presidio of San Francisco
Presidio of San Francisco
The Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
), a post nominated by the President of the United States. He was married to Doris Feigenbaum, and was a long-time member of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. Their three sons continue to manage the business.
Philanthropy
Fisher has been active in several public education causes, including being a major contributor to KIPPKipp
-People:*Annika Kipp , German radio and television presenter*George Washington Kipp , U.S. politician*Karl-Heinz Kipp , German entrepreneur*Kipp Lennon , American musician*Lyman Kipp , U.S...
charter schools—a national network of low-income, high-achieving college preparatory public charter schools: he was the chairman of the board of trustees of the KIPP Foundation, the non-profit central organization of the KIPP
Kipp
-People:*Annika Kipp , German radio and television presenter*George Washington Kipp , U.S. politician*Karl-Heinz Kipp , German entrepreneur*Kipp Lennon , American musician*Lyman Kipp , U.S...
network. He was also a contributor to Teach For America
Teach For America
Teach For America is an American non-profit organization that aims to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation's most promising future leaders to teach for two or more years in low-income communities throughout the United States...
, GreatSchools.net, and EdVoice, a state-wide coalition of California business leaders and others who support education reform. Fisher also served on the California State Board of Education
California State Board of Education
The California State Board of Education is the governing and policy-making body of the California Department of Education. The State Board of Education sets K-12 education policy in the areas of standards, instructional materials, assessment, and accountability...
. Fisher and his family donated a generous sum of money to Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 2006, and the Fisher Hall dormitory at Princeton's new residential college, Whitman College
Whitman College, Princeton University
Whitman College is one of the six residential colleges at Princeton University, New Jersey, United States. The college is named after Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, following her $30 million donation to build the college. The structure was designed by architect Demetri Porphyrios...
, is named for him. He has also donated to charter school
Charter school
Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...
s and museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s in San Francisco, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
, and paid for public sculptures in San Francisco. In 2007, Fisher was honored as the Alumnus of the Year by the California Alumni Association at the University of California, Berkeley. He also contributed to many Bay Area Jewish causes, including the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco and the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.
Edison Schools
In 2000, Fisher, an investor in Edison SchoolsEdison Schools
EdisonLearning Inc., formerly known as Edison Schools Inc., is a for-profit education management organization for public schools in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1992 as The Edison Project, largely the brainchild of Chris Whittle...
(a for-profit educational management organization
For-Profit School
For-profit education refers to educational institutions operated by private, profit-seeking businesses....
), was found to be funneling "soft money
Campaign finance in the United States
Campaign finance in the United States is the financing of electoral campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels.At the federal level, the primary source of campaign funds is individuals; political action committees are a distant second. Contributions from both are limited, and direct...
" into the campaigns of pro-Edison board members during San Francisco's school board election on whether to break contract with Edison. The consulting firm Barnes, Mosher, Whitehurst, Lauter and Partners funded approximately $50,100 to a group called "San Franciscans for Sensible Government" that was distributing campaign flyers for Mary Hernandez, Stephen Herman, and Robert Varni. The pro-Edison campaign was not successful in preventing a new anti-privatization majority of four to three in the San Francisco Unified School Board.
Art collection
Since founding the Gap in 1969, Fisher and his wife Doris began collecting contemporaryContemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
Western art. In 1993, ARTnews
ARTnews
ARTnews is an arts magazine based in New York, founded by James Clarence Hyde in 1902 as Hyde’s Weekly Art News. It is published 11 times a year.ARTnews covers all art, from ancient to Post-modernism...
Magazine declared Fisher one of the top ten art collectors in the world. His collection, largely housed at the Gap headquarters in San Francisco, includes comprehensive, career-spanning works by Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...
and Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
, Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly is an American painter and sculptor associated with Hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and the Minimalist school. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing the simplicity of form found similar to the work of John McLaughlin. Kelly often employs bright colors to...
, Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has simultaneously produced abstract and photorealistic painted works, as well as photographs and glass pieces, thus undermining the concept of the artist’s obligation to maintain a single cohesive style.- Biography :Gerhard Richter was born in...
, Anselm Kiefer
Anselm Kiefer
Anselm Kiefer is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Joseph Beuys and Peter Dreher during the 1970s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac...
, Chuck Close
Chuck Close
Charles Thomas "Chuck" Close is an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits...
, and Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
.
On August 8, 2007, Fisher announced plans to build a 100000 square feet (9,290.3 m²) museum in the San Francisco Presidio, tentatively named the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio, to house his art collection. The museum, if it had been built, would have been larger than the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
(SFMOMA). However, the plan engendered widespread skepticism and even outright antagonism among some historic preservationists in San Francisco.
In July 2009, Fisher announced that he and his wife were abandoning their efforts to build the museum at San Francisco's Presidio, stating "Doris and I will take some time to consider the future of our collection and other possible locations for a museum, which could include other sites within the Presidio and elsewhere." In September 2009, Donald and Doris Fisher decided to enter into a partnership with SFMOMA to display the world famous collection.
Death
One day after the San Francisco Chronicle article on the SFMOMA partnership, the Chronicle reported that Fisher died of cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at home on Sunday morning, September 27, 2009.
External links
- GAP Official Website
- Don Fisher Daily Telegraph obituary
- Gap Inc. Don Fisher biography
- KIPP Foundation