Frank A. Fischer

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For the majority of my rabbinical career I served Jewish college students on a number of campuses under the auspices of the Hillel Foundations.  I began my career at the University of Georgia where I worked from 1962 through the summer of 1966 during the civil rights movement on campus.  From 1966 through the summer of 1976 I served first as Associate Director and then Director of Hillel at Brooklyn College in New York.  During the years 1976 to 1979 I was the rabbi and Director of the Hillel Foundation at Hofstra University on Long Island.

From 1979 to 1980 I was the Executive Director of the Hillel Foundations of Florida.  From 1980 until my retirement in 1993 I served as Director of the Hillel Foundation at Duke University in Durham and of the Hillel Foundation at the University of North Caroline in Chapel Hill.

While I was at the University of Georgia I also served as rabbi of Children of Israel which was located in Athens, Georgia.  During that time I worked with members of that congregation to help integrate the public schools of Athens, assisting families who sought to register their children to fill out the required forms.

During my tenure at Brooklyn College I served as interim rabbi at the Garden City Jewish Center on Long Island and assisted in the development of a new Reform congregation in a New Jersey suburb.  While I was at Hofstra University I had the opportunity to teach in the Department of Judaic Studies as an adjunct instructor.

In North Carolina I served as chaplain at Duke University Medical Center, the University of North Carolina Hospitals, and the Veteran Administration Hospital.  For 19 years I was a chaplain at the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina.  For the past fifteen years we have spent summers in Israel.  That time was enriched by the yearly experience of learning with colleagues from varied backgrounds for two weeks at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

Since my retirement in 1993 I have been a faculty member of the Osher Life Long Learning Institute at Duke University where I teach a variety of courses in Judaica.  I am active in our local Jewish Federation; for two years I served as campaign chair and currently I am the co-chair of the Community Relations Council.

In the summer of 2011 we relocated to Carol Woods, a Continuing Care Retirement Community.  Here I have the opportunity to be a Jewish resource to the residents.  This fall I taught a course on the Foundations of Jewish Culture and Traditions which was very well received and I am already planning a course for the Spring.

I have had a varied and fulfilling life.  I continue to learn and study with colleagues and members of our Jewish community.