Curtis E. Fisher dies; educator, local official was 70

Curtis E. Fisher, an educator, coach, politician and Hempstead Town and Nassau County official, died peacefully in his sleep Thursday at home in Baldwin, his family said. He was 70.

Fisher earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Hofstra University, where he was the first student in its Negro Opportunities at Hofstra (NOAH) program in 1964. Two years later the program’s name was changed to New Opportunities at Hofstra.

“NOAH was probably the turning point in my life,” Fisher told Newsday in 2004, the 40th anniversary of the program.

George Sands of Lehigh Acres, Florida, said he and Fisher attended Malverne High School together. “He was a lot of fun all through school, and he had your back, too. At the same time, you knew he wasn’t going to get you into any crazy stuff or drugs.”

Fisher received his bachelor’s degree in business in 1969 and earned a dual master’s in special education and elementary education in 1972. In 1978 he received a professional diploma in education administration from LIU Post.

He was a special-education teacher at Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School, then an assistant principal at Northern Parkway School in Uniondale.

Later, he became principal of Hampton Avenue Intermediate School in Bellport. He also worked in the Hempstead School District, serving as principal of its high school for two years.

Active in the community and in Republican Party affairs, he was an executive assistant to the Hempstead Town Council from 1989 to 1993, when he was appointed the first black Hempstead council member. Later that year he was elected to the seat. He was elected a second time but not a third. He would later become a deputy county executive under Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta. Later he was called back to the town to serve as its commissioner of planning and economic development

“He was a dear friend,” said Joseph Mondello, chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee. “We played tennis together for maybe 15 years. He was a wonderful guy. We had a lot of laughs together. He was a great athlete, and smart. I recommended him for the town board.”

“I had the pleasure of serving on the Hempstead Town Board with this good friend, and his talents and genuine goodness will be sorely missed,” said town Supervisor Anthony J. Santino.

The Rev. Reginald Tuggle, former longtime pastor of Roosevelt’s Memorial Presbyterian Church, now retired in Charlotte, North Carolina, said Fisher “spoke up for his community and was an intrepid leader.”

Former Hempstead village leader James Garner, Nassau’s deputy comptroller and Long Island’s first black mayor, called Fisher “a trailblazer.”

Fisher, who had been a superb athlete in high school and college, coached basketball at Roosevelt and later was a volunteer coach at several schools, including Chaminade High School in Mineola, which two of his sons attended.

He belonged to many organizations, including the 100 Black Men of Nassau and Suffolk counties.

The family did not give a cause of death.

Survivors include his mother, Wilhelmina McCrae of Chesapeake, Virginia; his wife of 31 years, Dr. Marilyn Robertson; sons, Michael, Christopher, Matthew and Christian; daughter, Rachael Mitchell of Marlboro, Maryland; brother, Fab Fisher of Rockville Centre; sisters, Barbara Reynolds, Arnette Barnes and Bernadette Fisher; and two grandchildren.

Visiting is from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday and from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at the Fullerton Funeral Home in Baldwin. A Mass of Christian Burial will be said at 9:45 a.m. Monday at St. Christopher Church in Baldwin. Interment to follow at Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale.