He was born on 13 January 1855 in Taunton, Massachusetts. He was a son of Frederick L. Fish and Mary Jarvis Fish. Among his siblings were brothers Nathaniel J. W. Fish, the mayor of Taunton, and engineer Charles Henry Fish. His paternal grandparents were Simeon Fish and Judith Fish and his maternal grandparents were the Rev. Clark Perry and Mary Jarvis Perry. Fish attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1878.
Career
He worked at the law firm of Thomas L. Livermore and Senator Bainbridge Wadleigh in Boston. During his lifetime, the law firm was successively named Wadleigh & Fish ; Livermore & Fish ; Livermore, Fish & Richardson ; Fish, Richardson & Storrow ; Fish, Richardson, Herrick & Storrow ; Fish Richardson, Herrick & Neave ; Richardson, Herrick & Neave ; Fish, Richardson, Herrick & Neave ; and Fish, Richardson & Neave. In 1969, after Fish's death, the firm adopted its current name, Fish & Richardson. Fish's specialty was patent law. He was involved in key patent litigation during development of the telephone, the air brake, the steam turbine, the automobile, the airplane and the radio, as well as other electric appliances. In 1901, Fish took leave from the law practice to serve as the president of AT&T. During his tenure at AT&T, Fish oversaw completion of a unified network of telephone lines nationwide. He turned down the presidency of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and returned to law in 1907. That year, Fish first credited Thomas Edison with suggesting "hello" as a more efficient telephone greeting than "Are you there?" or "Are you ready to talk?" Alexander Graham Bell had proposed "ahoy". In 1906, Fish helped the Wright Brothers secure their patent on wing warping. In 1913, Fish helped the Wright Brothers prevail over Glenn Curtiss in an infringement case involving the 1906 “Flying Machine” patent. Wilbur Wright's last known letter before his death was to Frederick Fish.
Volunteer work and legacy
He 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 1919–1920. He served on the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Governing Board of Radcliffe College. 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 a eulogy about Fish as follows: “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.”
