Irving Fishman

Irving Fishman was born in NYC in 1918 and moved to Bathgate in the Bronx when he was four, after his mother died and his Aunt Rebecca Rosenberg offered to raise him with his cousins Henrietta and Esther. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School and then went on to the University of Wisconsin and Rutgers, ultimately obtaining a prestigious masters degree in Statistics, with a concentration in Economics. During World War II Irving entered the Army as an enlisted man and was picked to go to Officers Candidate School. He served as a captain in anti-aircraft battery, where he was one of the first to use the original digital anti-aircraft fire-control system – which he was proud to describe as “something that needed to be fixed up so it worked right.” Irving fought in the Battle of Okinawa, and other battles on the Ryuku Islands. After the war ended Irving was transferred to Korea where he served for a couple of years rebuilding the post-war economy. For this work, Irving received a medal from the Korean government. He also spent time in Washington consulting to the US government on wartime economy.

After his return from service, Irving started the Knickerbocker Coffee Service, which initially involved brewing coffee in a six-story-tall giant percolator located in a building in Lower Manhattan, and sending out employees to sell coffee from pushcarts in front of big corporations in NYC. Later Irving imported the first personal coffee makers to the US, and shifted his business model to leasing those machines to companies and selling them ground coffee. He settled on the Lower East Side down the hall from his cousin Henrietta. Aside from a brief marriage, he lived on his own and maintained warm affectionate relationships with relatives and friends, who were many in number. In later years Irving took jewelry classes, including at the 92nd street Y, and produced many beautiful items of jewelry and sculpture. Irving was also an avid tennis player, and a frequent theater attendee.