Zachary Fisher*

Born in 1910 in Brooklyn, New York, Zachary Fisher was one of seven children of a bricklayer immigrant from Russia. He quit school at 16 to work in construction so he could help with family expenses. Shortly thereafter, he and his two brothers joined forces to form Fisher Brothers, which grew into one of the real estate industry's premier residential and commercial developers.

Prevented from active service in World War II because of a leg injury, Fisher drew on his building skills to help the U.S. government construct coastal fortifications. He continued his patronage of the Armed Forces and, in 1978, founded the Intrepid Museum Foundation to save the historic and battle scarred aircraft carrier USS Intrepid from the scrapyard. This effort resulted in his spearheading the opening of New York's Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, located aboard the vessel, which became the world's largest naval museum. Fisher went on to found the Armed Services Foundation.