Portland Commissioner Nick Fish Has Died - Willamette Week

City Commissioner Nick Fish, a stabilizing force in Portland City Hall who advised and tempered three mayors, has died of stomach cancer, two days after announcing his resignation. He was 61.

Fish, a Harvard graduate and labor lawyer, joined Portland City Council in 2008, and rapidly established himself as a champion for social services, a caretaker of the city's parks, and a peacemaker between progressive city officials and local business leaders.

A tearful Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury this afternoon paid tribute to her friend.

"I think it's probably going to be said it a million times about him but he was true public servant," Kafoury says. "He loved everything about being a public servant even when it was difficult to be a public servant. He was such a good friend to so many people because he cared so much about people. He was a very special person and I'm very sad."

Fish came from a long line of public servants. Four generations of Fishes served New York in Congress. Nick Fish's father, U.S. Rep. Hamilton Fish (R-N.Y) served 13 terms and famously broke with his GOP colleagues to vote for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.

Nick Fish left New York in the late 1990s, when his wife, Patricia Schechter, then a history professor, took a job at Portland State University. While practicing law here, Fish first ran for City Council in 2002, losing to Randy Leonard and then again in 2004, losing to Sam Adams.

Like the Portland Pilots' women's soccer team, of whom he was a die-hard fan, he kept trying and won his council seat on his third try in 2008.

On the council, he delighted in his work leading the Portland Housing Bureau and Portland Parks and Recreation and also put in difficult stretches fixing the embattled Bureau of Environmental Services and the Water Bureau. Fish was the driving force behind two housing bonds and an early enthusiast for the Portland Thorns and Timbers soccer teams.

Housing advocate Israel Bayer was among the longtime observers of City Hall who today said Fish stood out from most politicians.

"Nick was a friend of the poor," Bayer tells WW. "On more than one occasion, Nick would visit people experiencing homelessness and offer individuals their first meal after getting into housing. Nick did this quietly and always asked for it to stay out of the press.

"There's no elected official," Bayer added, "that cared more about bringing people together across different political spectrums to work towards giving people a safe place to call home."

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Portland Commissioner Nick Fish Has Died - Willamette Week
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