Picture L-R: Julie, Lyndsey, Blake and Taylor Fisher
Like father, like daughters: Two generations of the Fisher family have found academic and personal satisfaction at the University of Wyoming.
Attending UW was not the obvious choice for Blake Fisher. He grew up in Denver, and most of his friends attended Colorado State University. “I didn’t want to do the same thing, so I looked north, he says.” I thought it better not to hang out with my high school buddies.”
Fisher’s father, Don, worked in the cable television business, which took him on many trips through Laramie. “He told me he thought the town and school would be a fine place for me to go,” Fisher recalls. “Looking back, that is one of the finest decisions of my life.”
Fisher loved hunting and fishing, so he planned to study wildlife management. Instead, he graduated in 1986 with a degree in accounting, returned to Denver and for 10 years worked in real estate asset management. He’s now part of a private equity firm, Fisher Capital, with his father and two brothers.
Fisher says his daughter Lyndsey, now 21, faced a circumstance similar to his own. Most of her friends chose schools in Colorado. But Lyndsey had been to Laramie several times with her family and was familiar with the town, the school and with her father’s own stories about UW. The fact that Laramie is within a few hours’ drive was also a plus for this close-knit family, Fisher says. Lyndsey is a senior, majoring in family and consumer sciences, with a concentration in design, merchandizing and textiles. She’s also minoring in interior design.
For younger daughter Taylor, a freshman, Fisher says the choice of UW was easier. “She and her sister are best friends, so it made sense.” Taylor’s major is animal science, and she plans to become a veterinarian. She hopes to be accepted into the vet school at CSU upon graduation.
As was the case with their father, both daughters are involved in Greek life at UW. Blake was in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, while they are in the Chi Omega sorority. Fisher encouraged them to take part because of the opportunity to meet people they otherwise might not meet. “The fraternity gave me a built-in group that became my friends,” he says. “We helped each other through all the challenges of college.”
Fisher notes that UW has a “fantastic array of programs and majors,” but what makes it great are the people. “UW is a perfectly sized school, where you can meet people and stay in touch years later. The size made it perfect for my girls to go there. It is not so big they get lost.”
Fisher’s engagement with UW has included the Cowboy Joe Club board and the athletic director advisory board. “I take pride in staying involved both financially and with my time,” he says. “I hope as my girls graduate and get older, they will be as passionate about Cowgirls and Cowboys as I am.”