Estelle A. Fishbein, a former vice president of the Johns Hopkins University who served as that Baltimore-based academic institution’s first general counsel for nearly three decades, passed away last Saturday, Dec. 2.
The former Lutherville resident, who most recently lived in Boca Raton, Florida, and the Philadelphia suburb of Gladwyne, was 89.
A native of the Bronx, New York, Fishbein — whose maiden name was Ackerman — received her bachelor of arts degree fromHunter College and her law degree at Yale University.
From 1968 until 1975, she served as the special assistant attorney general for the State of Maryland and administered to the legal affairs of the University of Maryland.
She also served as a senior staff attorney at the Office of General Counsel in the Health Insurance Division (Medicare) of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
In 1980, Fishbein was appointed the first woman to serve as president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of College and University Attorneys, of which she joined the board of director in 1971.
In 2004, she was given NACUA’s Life Membership Award.
“Those who know Estelle Fishbein know that she has been a valued and valuable member of NACUA and of the higher education law profession,” the association stated at that time. “NACUA is therefore pleased to present her with Life Membership in recognition of her extraordinary service to both Johns Hopkins University and the Association.”
Fishbein retired from Hopkins in January of 2004 after serving as general counsel there since 1975 and vice president since 1991.
In 2005, Fishbein was honored with the JHU Alumni Association’s Heritage Award, which recognizes alumni and friends of Hopkins who contributed over an extended period to the progress of the university or the activities of the association.
During her tenure at Hopkins, she also served as a trustee of the Teachers Insurance Annuity Association; a board member and chair of the Medical Centre Insurance Co. Ltd.; a member of the Advisory Committee on Scientific Integrity of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and a trustee of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
“For many years, Estelle Fishbein was one of the preeminent lawyers in the field,” Steve Dunham, Fishbein’s successor at Hopkins, told The JHU Gazette in 2005. “To follow her and build on the office that she created, basically, is an honor and another attraction of the job.”
Fishbein is survived by her sons, Rand (Julie) Fishbein and Jonathan (Elana) Fishbein; her grandchildren, Eitan (Elanna) Fishbein, Aliza (Alex) Silver, Yael Fishbein, Zane Fishbein, Joshua Fishbein and Natan Fishbein; and her great-grandchildren, Leora, Gavi and Eyal.
She was predeceased by her husband, Dr. Ronald H. Fishbein; her siblings, Tillie Ackerman, Sylvia (Morris) Peskoff, Jack (Lenore) Ackerman and Martin (Ruth) Ackerman; and her parents, Katie and Joseph Ackerman.
Funeral services for Estelle A. Fishbein will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 1 p.m. at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Cemetery, 318 Berrymans Lane in Reisterstown. Contributions in her memory may be sent to the P.E.F. Israel Endowment Funds, C/O Benji Hillman Foundation, 630 Third Avenue, Suite 1501, New York, New York 10017. (The foundation provides a home for “lone soldiers” of the Israel Defense Forces.)
The family will be in mourning at 1318 Club House Road in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.
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