Jerome Fishbain

Jerome Gerald Fishbain, 93, of Madison passed away on Monday, March 2nd, 2026 in his residence at Attic Angel. Born on November 30th, 1932 in Racine Wisconsin to Joseph and Lillian Newman Fishbain, Jerome grew up playing different sports and loved going to movies. After graduating from Racine Horlick High School, Jerome earned his Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse and his Master’s degree from UW-Madison. After serving in the US Army, Jerome came back to Wisconsin where he started his teaching and coaching career at Colby High school. Eventually, he returned to Racine Horlick high school where he taught history and coached football. It was at Horlick where he met his soon to be bride Janet Rietveld and the two wed on June 18th, 1966 at her family’s farm.

Jerome coached football both in high school and at the college level across Wisconsin. After coaching high school teams at Racine Horlick, he coached at UW-Milwaukee, UW-River Falls and had a brief stint at the University of Minnesota before becoming the recruiting coordinator at UW-Madison. He was on the coaching staff at UW-Madison from 1980-1988 and then again from 1990-1994.

When Jerome wasn’t coaching, he and his wife Janet loved to travel and did so around the world. They visited many European & Middle Eastern and Asian countries as well as Australia and New Zealand.

Jerome is survived by his three children, Jason, Sarah (Chris) Leonard and Rachael (Dan) Hagen, his three grandchildren Dagan and Alisana Fishbain and Jacob Leonard and his two step grandchildren Brea and Reese Hagen.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Harold and his sister Charlotte.

The family asks that In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to the American Heart Association

A public celebration of life will be held at the East Side Club in Madison on Fri April 10th from 2-6pm.

Cress Center

6021 University Avenue

Madison, WI 

608-238-8406