Cynthia J. Fishman, chemist, actress, gourmet chef, and adventurer, dies at 94

Cynthia J. Fishman, 94, a former chemist and homemaker who also found time to act, sail, and become a gourmet chef, died Thursday, April 7, of heart failure at her Philadelphia home.

Mrs. Fishman was known as the “Mayor of Society Hill Towers,” where she lived for 37 years.

Eric Fishman said his mother often held court while sitting outside the towers.

“Cynthia’s personality was such that she could communicate with everybody,” said her son, who called her by her first name because she sometimes worked in his businesses with him. “She had such a vibrant personality. Everyone loved to sit and hear her stories and talk to her. She was able to have incredible conversations.”

Mrs. Fishman was extremely bright with “a genius IQ” and had skipped three grades and graduated from high school at age 15, said her son. Although he wasn’t sure of the year she graduated, he said his mother then went on to study at Drexel.

She worked as a chemist for the Manhattan Project, which was a research and development project that produced the world’s first nuclear weapons.

After an explosion at the site, however, Mrs. Fishman’s father — she was still single at the time — advised her to find another job. She then went to work for General Electric.

Mrs. Fishman also had a flair for fashion and loved to “dress to the nines and put on her Chanel makeup everyday,” Eric said.

One day, her dangling “Lunch at the Ritz” earrings and big blonde hair caught the eye of President Bill Clinton.

Mrs. Fishman, then in her early 60s, was working in her son’s Sweet News store in the lobby of the former Inquirer Building at 400 N. Broad St. when Clinton arrived to meet with The Inquirer’s editorial board.

Clinton caught a glimpse of Mrs. Fishman and dashed into the newsstand shop.

“He goes in. You know how he is. He acts like he’s your best friend. And he said to her: ‘My goodness. Look at how beautiful you look,’ ” her son recalled.

Mrs. Fishman also worked as an actress for the Philadelphia Opera Company, and taught herself to become a gourmet chef and baker.

“She didn’t have any formal acting lessons,” Eric said. “She just walked on and they loved her.”

When her younger brother, Herbert Ross, decided to sail around the world in a trimaran, Mrs. Fishman flew to join him for part of the trip. Another year, on Bastille Day, she joined her brother, who owned his own hot air balloon, for a balloon flight.

Cynthia June Ross Fishman was born June 27, 1927, in Atlantic City to Harry Ross, a Navy veteran who worked as an electrician at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and Rose Epstein Ross. Mrs. Fishman was the elder of two children.

The family moved to Philadelphia, where Mrs. Fishman graduated from West Philadelphia High School.

Not long after college, Mrs. Fishman married Henry Bergman, with whom she had four sons. That marriage ended in divorce. She later met and married Solomon Fishman, a widower with two children, a son and a daughter.

The blended family moved to Cherry Hill, where Mrs. Fishman became a homemaker to take care of six children and a large St. Bernard.

Her second husband adopted her four sons and gave them his name. She was married to Mr. Fishman for about 18 years until his death.

Eric Fishman said his mother read four books a week. In addition, she was an art and history scholar and completed the crossword puzzles in both The Inquirer and the New York Times every day. On the side, she worked as an interior decorator.

After his mother’s death, her son said he visited the same eye doctor who had treated his mother.

He said the doctor told him something he had never known: that after every visit, his mother mailed the doctor “a beautiful, handwritten thank you card.”

Eric Fishman said both he and his mother got around Philadelphia on SEPTA. Often, when he got on the bus, the drivers asked him, “How’s Cynthia?” They all knew her.

In addition to her son, Mrs. Fishman is survived by three other sons: Lloyd, Deems and Geofrey Fishman; a daughter, Lynn Fishman Bonner; and seven grandchildren. One son, Steve Fishman, predeceased her as did one granddaughter.

A memorial service will be planned at a later date.