Jerome (’48) and Lorraine
Rager (’49) Fisch

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Jerome first met Lorraine on the now-defunct Lexington Avenue elevated train during a commute to school from their Bronx homes. “She was standing with some friends of mine; I was seated doing my homework as usual and saw that she had an English book I didn’t have.” Using one of his friends as a messenger, “I asked if I could borrow the book.”

They later got to talking. “I had returned from the service, and she knew me because I had broken her brother’s arm in a touch football game a couple of months before.” Despite that grisly accident, they began dating and eventually got engaged while attending Baruch. “A couple of days after she graduated, we got married,” recalls Jerome. “Matter of fact, we got our picture on the front page of The Ticker.”

Before that, however, “I went off to law school. I would never have gone to Harvard Law if she hadn’t told me to apply,” Jerome said. “I said, ‘Number one, I can’t afford it, and number two, we are engaged.’” It all worked out, though, with the couple shuttling between Cambridge and New York during his year at Harvard.

The Fisches moved back to the Bronx, where Jerome worked for Congressman Paul Fino. Once they had children (two sons), the couple moved to New Jersey, where they have resided for 40 years. They’re the proud grandparents of two grandsons.