Max Fisher

About

Detroit real estate and oil tycoon who became a well-known philanthropist.

Before Fame

He joined his father's business in oil reclamation earning $15 a week after attending The Ohio State University on a football scholarship.

Trivia

He donated nearly $20 million to Ohio State's business school, which he attended, and to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra after earning a fortune with his own oil company and gas-station chain.

Family Life

He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents.

Associated With

He was used as an informal emissary to defuse tensions between Israel and U.S. by President Gerald R. Ford and the secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger.