"Woman of valor" Babette Fisher dies at 62
Five hundred of them showed up at her funeral Monday to honor the woman who was a community leader as well as devoted friend and beloved family member.
Babette "Babs" Fisher died Oct. 15 after a four-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 62.
Born Dec. 17, 1941 in Seattle, Mrs. Fisher began her charitable work at a young age.
While attending Garfield High School in 1963, Mrs. Fisher and best friend Bobbie Stern founded the Donnez Nous guild of the City of Hope, a California-based cancer-research and care center. The guild, which became a chapter, has since raised more than $1 million for the City of Hope, according to the City of Hope Web site.
"She was always involved in doing things in a wonderfully quiet way. She just got better, and she gained more confidence in her leadership," said Stern, who first met Mrs. Fisher at age 8.
Last October, Mrs. Fisher and her husband, Eddie, hosted a celebration at their Clyde Hill home to commemorate Donnez Nous' 40-year anniversary. Actress Florence Henderson, a City of Hope supporter, was the guest speaker.
A leader in the Jewish community, Mrs. Fisher was the first Jewish woman to join the Junior League of Seattle, said Barry Goren, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.
In 1997, she became one of five women to receive the Althea Stroum Women of Distinction award from the Women's Division of the Jewish Federation, a group she was president of from 1985 to 1987.
Earlier this year, she received the Shirley Bridge Power of One award from the Women's Endowment Foundation — a group she was instrumental in founding.
Over the years, she made frequent trips to Washington, D.C., to establish relationships with Jewish leaders from around the country and to organize political lobbying efforts. She regularly led members of Seattle's Jewish community on missions to Israel, so Jewish Federation donors could see where their money was going.
"Babs is what we call in Hebrew 'eshet chayil' — a woman of valor," said Goren, who knew Mrs. Fisher for 20 years through her work with the Jewish Federation.
Mrs. Fisher is also remembered for her avid athleticism.
"She would go to her aerobics class, then play tennis, then get her blood checked or have treatment," Stern recalled. "The nurses and doctors would look at her numbers, then look at her in astonishment and ask her if she needed to sit down or if she was feeling OK. She would say 'Let's get going, I've just finished playing tennis and have a luncheon to go to.' "
Since they were newlyweds, Mrs. Fisher and her husband maintained close contact with a network of seven couples who came to refer to each other as extended family. For the past 42 years, the couples have vacationed together, dined together and raised their children together.
"She was not ever interested in going to a cancer-support group. She said she had her support group in all of us," Blanche Shindell said.
When Mrs. Fisher was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, her three sons followed their mother's philanthropic lead and established the Fisher Family Golf Invitational to benefit the Marsha Rivkin Center for ovarian cancer research. Now in its third year, the event has raised around $150,000 for the center.
"Her goal wasn't to change the world. She just wanted to be happy and to make other people happy, and by accomplishing that, she did change the world," said her son, Eric Fisher of Chicago.
In addition to her husband and son Eric, Mrs. Fisher is survived by sons Rod of Bellevue, and Craig of Mercer Island, and six grandchildren.
Lauren Graf: 206-464-8345 or lgraf@seattletimes.com