The Ford Foundation Visiting Professorship
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Written by admin on September 25, 2008 – 9:02 pm
The Ford Foundation Visiting Professorship was for only one year, but Fischer felt sure enough about his future prospects to close down his office in Belmont, sell his house in Arlington, and move to Chicago with his entire family, now enlarged by a second daughter, Melissa, born November 3, 1970.
Initially they took a year’s lease at 908 Ashland Avenue in Wilmette, a suburb along Lake Michigan to the north of the city. But when the offer of a tenured professorship materialized they bought in the upscale neighboring village of Kenilworth at 244 Oxford Road, just a few blocks from the lake. It was a nice house, whitewashed brick with a slate roof, similar in vintage and architectural style to Fischer’s parents’ house in Bronxville. The first thing Fischer did after moving in was to add air-conditioning.
From the point of view of Fischer’s new colleagues at the University of Chicago, Kenilworth was a strange choice. “The heart of WASP America,” as Merton Miller called it, was no place for a professor.
Besides, it was on the opposite side of the city from the university, at least an hour commuting distance each way. Most professors lived in Hyde Park near to the university, and those who preferred a more suburban life usually chose one of the southern suburbs. Instead, Fischer bought himself a Mercedes and timed his commute to arrive at the university before the rush.
That first year he had no teaching responsibilities, so his life continued much as it had been in Boston. His consulting projects for Wells Fargo and other clients continued to occupy half of his time, leaving him free to spend the rest of his time on the intellectual projects that interested him.
His research assistant from that first year remembers Fischer as a tall, lanky man with a bemused smile and somewhat regal bearing, who dressed formally in a three-piece suit even while working alone at his desk.
