Janet A. Fishman

Fishman, Janet A. (Née Baum) Passed away January 17, 2013, at the age of 83 after a brave fight against Alzheimer's Disease. Janet was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She is survived by three children, Mark Fishman, Leslie (the late Jeffrey) Hayes and Susan Sundermeyer and four grandchildren Zachery Hayes, Eli Hayes, Joshua Sundermeyer and Evan Sundermeyer. Janet was born March 9, 1929, to Ceil and Miriam Baum, sister of Leland (the late Mildred) Baum and Lois Taus in Green Bay, WI. After graduating from the University of WI-Madison she married Marvin Fishman, together they lived and raised a family in Fox Point, a suburb of Milwaukee. Janet was a lover of the arts. She adored developing an extraordinary art glass collection. She was an avid theatergoer, and enjoyed the ballet and the symphony. Janet loved to travel and cherished traveling around the world with her husband. One of her favorite trips was an extended journey on the Orient Express before the Wall came down, leaving from Great Britain, heading east, and concluding their journey in Istanbul. She also loved to swim, and spent many hours swimming at the MAC. When she wasn't swimming, you could find her on the golf course. Beginning in 1970, Janet was a docent and docent teacher at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM). She taught twentieth-century art history, and specialized in the German Expressionist portion of the museum's collection. She was invited to lecture all over the community on the subject. Janet was the third chairperson of the docents (1980-1982) and was the docent liaison for the board of trustees during her tenure as chair of the docents; she extended an invitation to host the second National Docent Symposium in Milwaukee, which included all museum docents, including those outside of the field of art museums. "It was a great success and a special thrill for her to host docents from all over the U.S. and Canada. Janet was one of the most outstanding teachers I've seen in my fifty years at the art museum," Barbara Brown Lee, Chief Educator at MAM. During those same years, she raised her children, participated in the community, her children's education, and assisted her husband in researching and assembling what became known as one of the most important collections of German Expressionist and Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) art in the world. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the service that had been scheduled for March 10 must be delayed until sometime in May, at the earliest. A notice announcing the date and time will appear in the Milwaukee Journal one week before the service. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations made to The Alzheimer's Association would be appreciated. GOODMAN-BENSMAN Whitefish Bay Funeral Home 4750 N. Santa Monica 414-964-3111 www.goodmanbensman.com