Max Fisher

MAX M. FISHER

Max M. Fisher was born on July 15, 1908 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Velvil Fisch (William) and Malka Brody (Mollie). His parents were Russian Jews.

Fisher grew up in Salem, Ohio. He made his fortune after he convinced a local industrialist to help finance an oil refinery business with him, that business was Aurora Oil. Over the years that followed, Max made several successful deals and partnerships that expanded his company and made himself and his partners very prosperous.

But business and financial success was just the beginning of Fisher’s impact on the world. Fisher became a giant in the Jewish community focusing on Israel and the support available from American Jewry. He became Chairman of the United Jewish Appeal and then the United Israel Appeal. He was instrumental in the Reconstitution of the Jewish Agency for Israel and was elected Chairman of the Board of Governors. He would go on to co-found Mega Group with his protege Leslie Wexner.

Max was a trusted advisor to many U.S. Presidents who oversaw important decisions related to policy toward Israel, the Middle East as well as American Jewish issues. Though he was a powerful fundraiser for Presidential political campaigns, he never sought nor accepted any official role as an Ambassador or Cabinet member preferring to take a more low -key advisor role. He knew accepting an official role would ultimately limit his influence with the President. As a result, he had almost unlimited access to U.S. Presidents and Israeli Prime Ministers throughout the last forty years of his life. His advice and ideas shaped U.S./Israeli relations through some of the most turbulent times in the Middle East.

Fisher served as national chairman of UJC's predecessor organizations, the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) from 1965–1967; president of the Council of Jewish Federations from 1969–1972; and chairman of the United Israel Appeal, Inc. (UIA) from 1968–1971; and president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit from 1959-1964.

In addition to being honorary chair of UJC, he was founding chairman of the board of governors of UJC's overseas partner, the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). He was also active in the American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith International, and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

Below from left to right - Marjorie Fisher, George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush and Max Fisher

MAX FISHER & US PRESIDENTS

Eisenhower and Fisher's discussion about the 1956 Suez Crisis defined the course of Fisher's political career.

Beginning in 1957, Fisher was hired into a position of greater respectability. Shell Oil Palestine, Ltd., Shell Chemical Palestine, Ltd., and Eilat Pipeline Company were sold to the Israeli-registered Paz Oil Company, and Fisher was allowed to buy one-third interest in Paz. An equal share was simultaneously purchased by the Swiss-Israel Trade Bank, whose managing director was Julius Klein. Closely linked to Swiss-Israel Trade Bank was Banque de Credit Internationale (BCI), implicated in the early-1960s Permindex assassination attempts against Charles de Gaulle as well as the murder of President John F. Kennedy

Left to Right: Honorary UJA Chairman Dewey Stone, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Chairman of the UJA Joseph Meyerhoff, Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman and Max M. Fisher at the White House. The photograph is signed by Johnson.

As established above, Nixon was familiar with Republican donor Fisher before his presidency began.



For President Nixon Max Fisher served as an unofficial ambassador to Israel. "Mr. Fisher was our dominant nongovernmental adviser on American-Israeli affairs," said a Nixon White House staffer.

In 1970, Max Fisher and Jewish leaders meet with congressmen and Secretary of State William Rogers to discuss the fate of Soviet Jews who are trying to immigrate to Israel. Nixon agrees to meet with the group and arranges for death sentences hanging over the "Leningrad 11" to be commuted. The sentences came after two Soviet Jews were found guilty of treason and were caught plotting to hijack an airliner with the goal of somehow flying to Israel without being intercepted.

Below : Fisher with Israeli Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin and President Richard Nixon


Rabin wrote: "Israel is not alone, provided it knows how to harness the support of its friends, Jewish and non-Jewish, in a discreet and judicious manner. From Max Fisher I always received great support; the door of the White House is always open to him and in time of need, Max moves its hinges."

Max M. Fisher with President Jimmy Carter. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin is in the background, with his wife Aliza to his left in sunglasses at the White House dinner in celebration of the signing of the Israeli - Egyptian Peace Treaty


George H. W. Bush had worked closely with Max Fisher as Ronald Reagan's Vice President throughout the 1980s. When he became president Max Fisher continued to serve as an adviser for Jewish interests, particularly on the issues of emigrating Soviet and Ethiopian Jews in the late 80s and early 90s.

FISHER & ISRAELI OFFICIALS

Benjamin Netanyahu and Max Fisher

Israeli Prime Minister and Max Fisher, 1971

Shimon Peres and Max Fisher

Yitzhak Shamir signed photograph for Max Fisher

FISHER & KISSINGER

As National Security Adviser and Secretary of State to consecutive Republican presidents Nixon and Ford, Henry Kissinger worked closely with Max Fisher, who acted as an unofficial ambassador to Israel. A fellow Jewish American leader, Kissinger was sympathetic to Fisher's appeals for the interests of Israel, and the two remained lifelong friends outside of politics.



Max Fisher meets with President Gerald Ford, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Donald Rumsfeld to convey his concern about the reassessment of US policy toward Israel. Fisher had recently returned from a visit to Israel and had met with Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin. The meeting helped Ford and Kissinger understand that their goals for Middle East peace were shared by Israeli leaders.

Below : Henry Kissinger congratulates Max M. Fisher for winning the Stephen S. Wise Award from the American Jewish Congress



FISHER & HENRY FORD II

In order to understand the relationship between the military industrial complex, the prominent think tanks and the elite Zionist networks, the relationship between Max Fisher and Henry Ford II is a key piece of the puzzle.

Max Fisher at the time was the Jewish community leader in the United States. Henry Ford II was the president of the Ford Motor Company and along with Rowan Horace Gaither oversaw the Ford Foundation and both were instrumental in the creation of the RAND Corporation. Ford II's relationship with the 'Whiz Kids' were the cornerstone in developing the post-WW2 military industrial complex and were vital in the rejuvenation of the Ford Motor Company.

The exact time of the beginning of the relationship between Max  Fisher and Henry Ford II isn't precisely known. However, it is known that before founding Aurora Oil (1930s), Fisher convinced a local industrialist to help finance the oil refinery business. The name of the local industrialist may well be omitted because it was Henry Ford the author and publisher of the book The International Jew.  Due to his leadership role in the Jewish community, Fisher, more than likely, didn't want it to be known that he was associated with Ford.

It is also known that Fisher and Ford II were pictured together at a Aurora Oil board meeting, sat together. It is important to note that Fisher sold the company to Marathon Oil in 1957, so we can assume the photograph predates that sale.

The fact that Ford II was on the board of Aurora Oil would further indicate his families involvement with Aurora Oil. The closeness of the relationship between Ford II and Fisher suggest a long standing and close relationship. This is further emphasized by this memoir and tribute to their relationship by Henry's son, Edsel B. Ford II.

Henry Ford II presents a check to Max M. Fisher and the United Jewish Appeal

The two men had a prominent relationship with Israel. The two visited Israel together as documented in the photographs below.

Above : Fisher & Ford II visit the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

Following the visit to Israel, Henry Ford II was actively seeking to assist Israel in their equipment needs as documented in the story below.

This however wasn't the beginning of Henry Ford II's relationship with Israel.

Fisher himself had a friendship with David Ben-Gurion. He had the honor of presenting him a gift for his 80th birthday.

Now that the clear links between Henry Ford II, Israel and the American Jewish leadership have been established, it is necessary to consider the influence those relationship have in context to the larger apparatus of powerful think tanks operated by Ford II and his right hand man, Horace Rowan Gaither Jr.

To learn more about these networks please click here for the information regarding the creation of RAND Corporation.

MAX FISHER, JOHN BUGAS AND HENRY FORD II

MAX FISHER & A. ALFRED TAUBMAN

UNITED BRANDS

In February 1975, United Brands (UB) Chairman of the Board Eli Black walked out of a window on the 44th floor of the Pan-American building in New York City. Within two months of his mysterious death, Max Fisher was appointed acting chairman of the company, and subsequently became its new Chairman of the Board. By 1975, Fisher and two of his close associates, Carl Lindner Jr. of Cincinnati and Seymour Milstein of New York City, held a total of 48 percent of the stock of U B and its subsidiary companies. Fisher's appointment was sponsored by two individuals: Sol Linowitz and Donald R. Gant, a Goldman Sachs partner and Henry Kissinger associate. The Carter administration's special envoy for Panama Canal treaty negotiations, Linowitz was a international policy adviser to Maritime Fruit Company, the Israeli counter part to United Brands, and sits on the board of Marine Midland Bank, which in 1979 merged with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, long the central clearinghouse bank for the Golden Triangle Far Eastern heroin trade. One of Fisher's first actions as board chairman was to appoint Bert C. Reiss as Vice-President in charge of transportation. Reiss came from National Bulk Carriers Corporation (NBC), a firm involved in shipping and construction throughout Latin America. NBC is owned by Daniel K. Ludwig, an associate of Meyer Lansky who, was responsible for the harbor-dredging project that led to the building of the scandal-ridden Paradise lsland. Once at UB, Reiss excluded all non-company cargo from United Brands ships and from its New Orleans port facilities, throwing a shroud of total secrecy around the company's Caribbean/Central American shipping activities. Read more here

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Fisher leveraged around $20 million to finance The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business for development of a new six-building business campus that opened in 1998. An additional pledge of $5 million was given to the Fisher College of Business in February 2005 to support Master of Business Administration programs.

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