Malinda Berry Fischer’s grandmother was the second woman to graduate from Oklahoma A&M College in 1898. Following in those footsteps, Berry Fischer graduated from OSU in 1960 with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education before earning a degree from the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration in 1962.

 

Berry Fischer is well known for her business and leadership roles, recently retiring from her positions as president of both Marietta Royalty Company and Thomas N. Berry & Co., an oil and gas business founded by her grandfather.

 

A resident of Stillwater, Berry Fischer served on the OSU Foundation Board of Trustees from 1997 to 2007, including time as chairman of the board and interim president and CEO. She is a lifetime member of the OSU Alumni Association and was selected as an OSU Leadership Legacy in 2002, an OSU Distinguished Alumna in 2006 and an OSU Alumni Hall of Fame inductee in 2012. She also was named the 2016 Philanthropist of the Year by Women for OSU.

 

In 2008, Berry Fischer, along with her husband, Dick Fischer, maximized an investment by contributing to OSU while T. Boone Pickens was offering a matching program. The gift resulted in a $1 million endowment to establish the Thomas E. Berry Professorship in Water Research and Management. The professorship was created in honor of her father, an innovative oil man and farmer who understood the importance of water quality and conservation.

 

Berry Fischer also was instrumental in establishing the Wise-Diggs-Berry Endowed Arts Faculty Award for teaching excellence in the arts. She is the chair of the OSU Arts Advisory Council and serves on the Performing Arts Advisory Board and the Doel Reed Center for the Arts committee.