Tom Fisher

After graduating from Earlham, I went to law school at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. From there I was recruited to take over a law practice in Remington, Indiana (Jasper County) where I enjoyed a “county seat” law practice for 21 years. I also served as the elected prosecuting attorney for19 years during that time. For most of that time our classmate Duane Daugherty and I were a law partners. Duane also served as the chief deputy prosecuting attorney. He assumed the bench as judge of the Jasper Circuit Court in 1982. So for four years one member of our class was the judge and another the prosecuting attorney in the same county.

In 1980, I (unsuccessfully) sought the Republican nomination for Indiana Attorney General. In 1986 I was appointed by Governor Robert Orr as the first judge of the newly created Indiana Tax Court where I have been since July 1, 1986. ( http://www.in.gov/judiciary/tax/). The Tax Court is a single judge appellate court with statewide jurisdiction. The court is of limited jurisdiction, limited to appeals of the assessment of state and local taxes , including property, sales, income, and all other taxes that the state of Indiana imposes.

After assuming the bench (that is what we do, you know) we moved to Indianapolis where we still live. I have been active in Rotary and am to be district governor for district 6560, helping 44 Rotary clubs in central Indiana further their goals of service to the community both local and international. As part of my Rotary activity, I led a team of four 30 something non-Rotarians to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi five years ago. This past July, I returned to Zimbabwe to see the results of some Rotary sponsored humanitarian projects and to scout project opportunities for the coming years.

I also served for nine years on the Earlham Board of Trustees where I had the pleasure of getting reacquainted with our contemporaries at Earlham, Mark Myers (60), Tom Gottschalk (64), Janice Dusseau (65), Mary (Shorty) Birenbaum (61), John Loose (64) and Taylor Jones of our class. I also served as Earlham appointee to the board of Conner Prairie living history museum and along with Earlham president, Doug Bennett and Morris Mills (50) were the board after Earlham dismissed the other board members. The end result was a separation of the two entities and a division of the endowment brokered by the Indiana Attorney General. The Conner Prairie side of the separation resulted in two Conner Prairie entities, the operating museum and a foundation to manage the endowment and physical assets turned over by Earlham. I currently serve along with Morris Mills as an Earlham appointee to the foundation board. Earlham also has one appointee to the operating board, John Young (56) serves there. The whole experience of separation was painful for both Conner Prairie and Earlham. I think, however, that both institutions came out of the experience stronger and focused on their respective missions. Quite an experience.

In June 1963, Barbara Molnar (EC’64) and I were married in Beck Chapel on the Indiana University campus. After we moved to Remington, Barbara served as he librarian of the Rensselaer Public library for three years. Barbara and I have two children, Anne born in 1965 and Tom born in 1968. Anne graduated from Purdue and is married, lives in Converse, Indiana and has three children, two girls age 13 and 9 and a son 7. She is a supervisor at Dunham’s Sporting Goods distribution center in Marion, Indiana. Tom graduated from Wabash College and Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington. He is married and lives with his family in Indianapolis. He and his wife have three children a son, 7, and two girls, ages 5 and 2. After clerking for the U.S. Court of Appeals, 7^th Circuit and working at law firms in Washington DC and Indianapolis Tom currently serves as Indiana’s Solicitor General. He represents the state of Indiana in high profile cases. Barbara and I had the pleasure of watching him argue a case before the US Supreme Court last year.

It hardly seems that 45 years has passed since we left Earlham. The Earlham experience I believe has made me a more open minded and thoughtful person than certainly a state school would have done. I treasure the years spent there and am very glad that I have had the opportunity stay associated with the college in recent years. I look forward to seeing all of our classmates who are able to attend the reunion and enjoy reading about all of the diverse activities, vocations and avocations in which our classmates have been engaged these past 45 years.

Five years ago did a paper that gives a flavor of some of my activities before I went on the bench. You may access it by going to http://members.cox.net/earlham62/fisheratt.htm

Tom Fisher

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