Frederick Perry Fish (13 January 1855 – 6 November 1930) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and executive who served as president of

American Telephone & Telegraph Corporation AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

from 1901 to 1907. One of the leading patent attorneys of his age, representing such clients as

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

, and The Wright Brothers, by the time of his death he was believed to have appeared in more patent cases at the Supreme Court than any other lawyer. He was the founder of the law firm now known as Fish & Richardson.

Early life

Fish was born on 13 January 1855 in

Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in and the county seat of Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River, which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount Hope Bay, to the south. As of the 2020 United States ...

, to Frederick L. Fish (1813–1892) and Mary Jarvis (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Perry) Fish (1833–1910). Among his siblings were Nathaniel J. W. Fish, the mayor of Taunton, and engineer Charles Henry Fish. Fish's paternal grandparents were Simeon Fish and Judith (née Rayder) Fish and his maternal grandparents were the Rev. Clark Perry and Mary Jarvis (née Stone) Perry. Fish attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. He was admitted to the bar in 1878.

Career

Fish worked at the law firm of Thomas L. Livermore and Senator Bainbridge Wadleigh in Boston. During his lifetime, the law firm was successively renamed Wadleigh & Fish (1878); Livermore & Fish (1885); Livermore, Fish & Richardson (1889); Fish, Richardson & Storrow (1890); Fish, Richardson, Herrick & Storrow (1899); Fish Richardson, Herrick & Neave (1900); Richardson, Herrick & Neave (1901); Fish, Richardson, Herrick & Neave (1907); and Fish, Richardson & Neave (1916). In 1969, after Fish's death, the firm adopted its current name, Fish & Richardson. Fish's specialty was

patent law A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

. He was involved in key patent litigation during development of the

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

, the air brake, the

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

, the

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

, the

airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

, the

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

, and other electric appliances. In 1901, Fish left law practice to serve as the president of AT&T. During his tenure at AT&T, he oversaw completion of a unified national network of telephone lines. In 1907, Fish turned down the presidency of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

and returned to law. That year, he first credited

with suggesting "

hello Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich Cou ...

" as a more efficient telephone greeting than "Are you there?" or "Are you ready to talk?"

had proposed " ahoy". In 1906, Fish helped the Wright Brothers secure their patent on wing warping. In 1913, Fish helped them prevail over

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...

in an infringement case involving the 1906 “Flying Machine” patent. Wilbur Wright's last known letter before his death was to Fish.

Volunteer work and legacy

Fish served as vice president of the Bar Association of the City of Boston from 1909 to 1920, and president of the Massachusetts State Bar Association for the year 1919–20. He served on the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Governing Board of

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

. He was also an overseer of Harvard College, a trustee of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, and chairman of the Massachusetts State Board of Education. Firm partner William King Richardson wrote in his eulogy for Fish, "He was a great lawyer and a great scholar, but above all he was a great human being. Each of the thousands who came in contact with him during his extraordinarily active life is better for having known him. He radiated kindliness, sympathy and courage."

Personal life

On April 7, 1880, Fish married Clara Perkins Livermore (1851–1914), a daughter of Leonard Jarvis Livermore, a minister, and Mary Ann Catherine (née Perkins) Livermore of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. They had two children, Margaret A. Fish and Erland Frederick Fish (1883–1942), a Major General and commander of the Massachusetts State Guard who served as President of the Massachusetts Senate. Fish died at his home in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

, on November 6, 1930.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fish, Frederick Perry 1855 births 1930 deaths American patent attorneys Lawyers from Brookline, Massachusetts People from Taunton, Massachusetts AT&T people Harvard Law School alumni Harvard College alumni