A longtime presence in Fort Wayne’s art’s scene has died. Betty Fishman was 100 years old, three weeks shy of her 101st birthday, according to an obituary from the family.
A Defiance, Ohio native, Fishman graduated from Ohio State University, having studied fine art, food science and textiles.
In her decades of community involvement in Fort Wayne, Fishman was instrumental in helping create the Arts United Center and served on a committee involved in the founding of what was then Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne.
An artist in her own right, Fishman had a master’s of arts degree from the University of St. Francis and taught art to middle- and high-school students in Noble County.
She served as the executive director of Artlink from 1990 to 2006. In 2004, then Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard declared a Betty Fishman Day. She was also awarded the Governor’s Award for service in 1971, according to the obituary.
Fishman is survived by her two daughters, Marguerite Fishman of Pacific Grove, California and Katie Eastridge of Princeton, New Jersey, two sons-in-law, two grandsons, and a great-granddaughter.
Below you can find links to Julia Meek's interviews with or about Fishman over the past few years.
