Nelson I. Fishman
Businessman and lawyer who founded a charitable foundation with his wife was an accomplished fencer
Nelson I. Fishman, founder of a floor covering company who later became an attorney specializing in bankruptcy law, died of pulmonary fibrosis Dec. 4 at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson.
The former Mount Washington resident was 83.
“Nelson Fishman was an outstanding individual. I was so fond of him,” said retired Baltimore Circuit Judge Ellen M. Heller of North Baltimore, a longtime friend and law school colleague. “He was a very positive man who never tooted his own horn.”
“One word to describe him was ‘brilliant,’” said Raymond J. Colombo of Abingdon, former business partner and managing director of Fishman Flooring Solutions, a division of L. Fishman & Son. “He was very bright and ethical — two qualities he received from his parents, whom I knew. His father was a very fine man.”
The son of Albert Fishman, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, and Bess Fishman, a homemaker, Nelson Irving Fishman was born in Baltimore and spent his early years on East Baltimore Street before moving with his family to Calloway Avenue in the city’s Ashburton neighborhood.
His father founded L. Fishman & Son, a wholesale supplier of thread, needles, zippers and other supplies used in Baltimore’s garment industry. It also became the distributor for the American Thread Co. which was the largest manufacturer of industrial sewing threads in the U.S.
As a student at Forest Park High School, Nelson I. Fishman was chief judge of the student court and president of the student body.
In 1954, after graduating from Forest Park, he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a member of Pi Lambda Phi.
In 1954, he married his high school sweetheart, the former Sara Jane Wolfe.
While at Penn, Mr. Fishman took up fencing and was a member of its NCAA champion fencing team, competing in epee and later in saber. He continued fencing until the early 1970s and won numerous competitions.
In 1965, he competed in the Maccabiah Games in Israel and won two gold medals. The next year, he competed in the U.S. Nationals, coming in third in saber and ranking as the eighth-best overall fencer in the U.S.
He worked briefly as an accountant in Baltimore after graduating from Penn, then enlisted in the Army in 1956. He was deployed to Paris, on assignment with the Army’s Audit Agency.
Discharged in 1958, he joined the family business — which at that time was experiencing the decline of the garment industry in Baltimore. Seeing growth in the carpet flooring and installation industry, he sold the thread business and concentrated on floor coverings and supplies.
In 1960 the Roberts Co., a manufacturer of carpet installation supplies, became the Baltimore distributor of the firm’s products. The company was split into flooring installation product and textile product divisions.
While continuing to operate the business, Mr. Fishman entered law school at the University of Maryland and obtained a law degree in 1976. He began teaching at the school the next year, and for 18 years taught business-related courses at the University of Maryland.
“He loved learning and going back to law school. He was so intelligent and easily understood legal concepts,” Judge Heller said.
The judge recalled that when the two were studying administrative law, Mr. Fishman sat back listening to the professor while Judge Heller took highly detailed notes.
“Before the exam, Nelson said, ‘Can I see your notes?’ and I said sure. He aced the exam while I got a medium B,” Judge Heller said.
“He was also a great teacher because of his legal knowledge — which was a wonderful experience for the students,” she said. “He had a wonderful, open personality and knew what was going on.”
He also worked at the Baltimore law firm of Weinberg & Green, where he specialized in bankruptcy law. In the mid-1990s, he became a securities arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, and remained there for two decades. He remained involved with L. Fishman & Son, which grew to become one of the largest distributors of floor covering installation supplies in the country, with more than 30 branches in seven states.
He sold the business to its employees in 2012.
“He presided over the growth of the company,” said Mr. Colombo, who was CEO and vice president of the board when he retired in 2012.
Mr. Fishman was active in community service and was appointed to head the city’s Animal Control Board by Mayor William Donald Schaefer. Later, as governor, Mr. Schaefer named him to the Judicial Nominating Committee for Baltimore.
In the early 2000s, he and his wife established the Nelson & Sara Fishman Family Foundation Inc., which benefits and supports Baltimore cultural, Jewish and humanitarian organizations.
He also served as president of the board of the Meyerberg Senior Center.
His son, Jonathan Fishman of Baltimore, said his father was a “natural linguist” who spoke several languages, self-taught.
Mr. Fishman was an avid reader and also enjoyed attending and supporting the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He and his wife were both interested in cooking and had studied at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.
After giving up fencing, Mr. Fishman became a cyclist and was an active member of the Baltimore Bicycle Club.
Since 2000, he and his wife enjoyed spending winters at Longboat Key, Fla., where he became a full-time resident. Because of their love of classical music, they spent a month each summer at Tanglewood in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.
They lived for 42 years on South Road in Mount Washington, and he served two terms as president of the Mount Washington Improvement Association. Since 2012, Mr. Fishman and his wife lived at the St. James Condominium in Guilford.
The couple were active members of Beth Am Synagogue since its founding in 1974. He also remained active in Jewish learning and had a deep appreciation for Yiddish and the traditions of Yiddish culture.
They were also active with the National Yiddish Book Center and attended workshops in Amherst, Mass.
Services for Mr. Fishman were held Tuesday at Sol Levinson & Bros. in Pikesville.
In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by another son, Aparajita Fishman of San Francisco; a brother, David Fishman of Baltimore; a sister, Eleanor Ochfeld of Baltimore; and two grandchildren.