For 56 years, Dr. Robert James Fischer — known to many simply as Doc Fischer — cared for animals large and small. Today, nine years after his death, the memory of him and his work lives on through a memorial bench at the Shawano Dog Park on Jaycee Court.
Earlier this year, Fischer’s three daughters and four grandchildren decided a bench at the dog park would be the perfect memorial.
“He always put the animals first,” said Toni Dinse, one of his daughters. “If an owner couldn’t pay, he let them charge as he was all about the animals that he treated. He would take calls nights and weekends. He would jump at all hours to meet someone with a sick animal, whether it was large or small.”
Sometimes, his clients would even bring their large animals to him on East Green Bay Street, where his office once stood.
For many years, Fischer was the only veterinarian in the city.
Dinse said her father helped establish the first humane society in Shawano.
“People and officers would bring strays to his clinic to stay,” she said. “Eventually, a private citizen started a humane society kennel on her property (near Thornton), and the animals would go there.”
Fischer treated the strays until the woman closed her kennel, and the official Shawano County Humane Society was created.
Fischer was the Shawano County Fair veterinarian for many years.
“During those fair days, he had to make daily rounds in the barns, and he was unable to leave town during this time due to his love and care of the animals staying on the grounds,” Dinse said.
Fischer also created the first rabies clinics for surrounding areas. He and staff members would visit areas and vaccinate small animals at a discounted rate to help get animals properly vaccinated. Dinse said the marathon sessions would last up to five hours with more than 100 animals seen during that time.
Fischer was 80 when he died May 15, 2016.
He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree in 1959 and was a veterinarian in Shawano at the Shawano Veterinary Clinic for more than half a century.
As a veterinarian, he had the opportunity to care for the dogs of President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush, as well as many other exotic animals.
His daughters are Laura, Toni and Susan; grandchildren are Kyle and Stephanie Dinse, and Kayla and Karissa Hill.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
Memorial bench honors late Doc Fischer
