The Lisa B. Fishman Foundation

Lisa Fishman was a strong, kindhearted, compassionate young woman. She grew up in New York City and attended Stuyvesant High School. After four years there, Lisa went on to attend George Washington University, where she was on the Dean’s List for four years and graduated with High Honors in both psychology and English. While at GWU, she was a member of Golden Key, a national honor society, and Psi Chi, a national psychology honor society. After graduating, Lisa remained at George Washington University as a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology. In 1996, Lisa was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. However, she did not let this deter her. She continued to give selflessly to help others and bravely battled the disease for four consecutive years.

From 1996-1998, Lisa worked for the New York City Administration for Children Services (ACS), serving in the Child Protective Services division under then commissioner William C. Bell. In her position as a mental health consultant, Lisa was concerned about the negative emotional impact that working daily with cases of child abuse and neglect had on the staff. For her dissertation, Lisa planned to interview ACS caseworkers about the emotional repercussions of their jobs. Through her research, she hoped to demonstrate the need for a support network for caseworkers and make recommendations regarding the best ways to provide such a system.

All Lisa ever wanted was to help improve the system. Her sickness never brought her down, except for the fear that it would interfere with her efforts to help the innocent victims of abuse and neglect. She fought hard for her own life so that she could go on and help fight for the lives of those who needed her. Lisa passed away on February 16, 2001, at the age of 30. She is survived by her adoring parents, who marveled at her strength and courage; a sister who looked up to her as her guiding light and from whom she was inseparable; two brothers and an incredible fiancé who was completely devoted to her.

Just as Lisa worked to help others, we invite you to join us to help others by raising money for lymphoma and cancer research. Together we can hopefully and profoundly change the lives of the patient’s suffering with this disease.

For more information, contact us at rememberlisa@optonline.net.

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