Who Is Bert Fish?

The Bert Fish Collection, now on exhibit at Stetson’s duPont-Ball Library, showcases treasures from the storied life of an 1895 alumnus.

BY KELLY LARSON, MLIS

Ornate furniture from the 19th century, a palace-size Persian rug, invitations to royal banquets and photos taken in the company of kings. Those are just a few of the gems that comprise the Bert Fish Collection, which was acquired by the duPont-Ball Library earlier this year and is now on exhibit. (See Editor’s note.) Items from the collection, including artifacts, correspondence, scrapbooks and photos, illuminate the intrepid final years of Stetson alumnus Bert Fish. “Who is Bert Fish?”

DELAND TO DIPLOMAT

Many people associate him with the local hospitals he established. If you were (or are) a Stetson student, you’re probably familiar with the modest street that bears his name on the DeLand campus. Local history buffs know he was once the self-proclaimed “Red Fox of Volusia County,” heavily involved in the DeLand “courthouse ring” (political machine) and, later, a top-ranking U.S. diplomat who played a pivotal role in foreign affairs.

Those who knew him personally undoubtedly had varying opinions of him, but most seemed to agree on one sure thing: He was an ambitious man.

Over the course of his lifetime, Bert Fish went from the public schools and courthouses of Volusia County to the upper echelon of foreign service. Although he was born in Indiana, his family moved to the small town of Spring Garden, Florida, when he was still a child. His father, George Fish, planted citrus groves on roughly 80 acres of land near present-day Barberville, issued to him by the government in 1885. The same year, a simple schoolhouse in the newly established town of DeLand had just become an institution of higher education. That school would eventually be known as Stetson University — and Bert Fish was among its first graduates.

George Fish died in 1895, leaving 19-yearold Bert to care for his mother and three siblings. Just weeks later, young Fish graduated from Stetson’s preparatory department. By that time, he had already worked as a public-school teacher for at least two years. He held his first public office (superintendent of Volusia County Schools) in 1901, and earned his law degree with Stetson’s first law class in 1902. He went on to create a powerful law firm with Stetson Professor Cary Landis, eventually becoming a county judge and, ultimately, a major player in Volusia politics.

Meanwhile, Fish amassed great wealth through shrewd real estate investments. Many citizens, particularly political opponents, accused him of generating his income by insalubrious means and using his money to dominate county politics. Fish, for his part, denied all allegations of wrongdoing. Whatever the case may have been, he established Bert Fish Inc. to manage his vast real estate holdings in 1923. The company was worth $500,000, an enormous sum at the time.

Fish ended his term as a criminal court judge, and after an unsuccessful bid for the state senate, he backed away from local politics. He retired in 1927 and sold his share of the law firm.

Throughout the late 1920s, ocean-liner passenger lists show that he traveled frequently, arriving back in the United States each autumn. One might guess he escaped the Florida summer in favor of more temperate climes abroad. It was during those long trips in the Mediterranean that Fish took a greater interest in global affairs.

Bert Fish went from the public schools and courthouses of Volusia County to the upper echelon of foreign service.

CAIRO AND SAUDI ARABIA CALLING

Fish re-entered the political arena in the early 1930s, this time on the state and national levels. A $5,000 donation to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential campaign opened doors for him with the Florida Democratic National Convention, and it wasn’t long before he became its finance director. Following Roosevelt’s victory in 1932, Fish applied for a U.S.

Seen this sign on campus? Like his life, it’s a bit hidden.

foreign service position, hoping for a diplomatic post in Cuba, Turkey or Egypt. When Roosevelt made patronage appointments for his Florida supporters, Fish was among them, and he accepted an assignment in Cairo, Egypt.

His official title was “Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary,” usually shortened to just “Minister.” The State Department doesn’t use that title anymore, but it was once the standard rank for heads of mission, signifying the head of a legation. (An embassy, on the other hand, is led by an ambassador.) Like ambassadors, ministers had full powers to act on the government’s behalf in their assigned posts. As the minister to Egypt, Fish was the highest-ranking U.S. official in that country.

Fish arrived in Cairo in 1933 and rode in a horse-drawn carriage to present his credentials to King Fuad I. The U.S. Legation was located in downtown Cairo, but the foreign service personnel resided at the Mena House Hotel, a luxury resort overlooking the Giza Pyramid complex.

Fish was chauffeured back and forth in a pristine Packard Super Eight automobile, and if the photographs are to be believed, he was attended at all times by at least one scimitar-bearing kavass. A holdover from the Ottoman Empire, the kavass is variously defined in English-language sources as a courier, interpreter, guard or attendant, usually in the service of a foreign diplomat.

At the time, Egyptian politics were convoluted by centuries of Ottoman rule followed by decades of European occupation. Though nominally an independent nation since 1922, the Kingdom of Egypt was still subject to British dominion by 1933, and the political scene amounted to a veritable tug of war between British imperialists, a monarchy of Albanian-Ottoman origin and a thriving nationalist party that dominated Parliament.

In this environment, Fish’s overarching objective was to maintain friendly relations with both Egypt and Great Britain. One of his greatest accomplishments was his role in negotiating the abolishment of the Capitulations. Those agreements, originally made between European powers and the Ottoman Empire, granted foreigners immunity from local laws. This system left Egyptian authorities quite powerless in legal and financial affairs, and allowed for foreign interference.

In 1937, Fish turned heads among the delegates at a convention in Montreux, Switzerland, by speaking fervently in favor of Egyptian self-determination. The treaty that ended the Capitulations was signed a month later, and Fish received glowing praise in both Egypt and America.

In 1939, Fish’s sphere of influence expanded even further. President Roosevelt appointed him minister to Saudi Arabia, a new position to be filled concurrently with the post in Egypt. The United States was eager to develop a diplomatic relationship with Saudi Arabia, where Standard Oil of California (later ARAMCO) had just discovered what would turn out to be the world’s largest source of petroleum.

Fish arrived in Jeddah in February 1940 amid concerns that Japan or Germany, already entrenched in World War II, would compete for access to Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Fish described his visit in vivid detail — from reports on his many meetings and the personalities of his hosts to descriptions of Bedouin dress and the food and drink served at Jeddah Palace. Most importantly, he wrote of his two meetings with Ibn Saud, the king of Saudi Arabia, who offered numerous assurances of Saudi Arabia’s alignment with American interests.

A year later, Fish was appointed to his final post in Lisbon, Portugal. As the U.S. minister to Portugal, he headed an important but tricky diplomatic mission during the war. Portugal remained neutral until 1944, and both Allied and Axis powers vied for influence, each seeking to install air and naval bases on the strategically located Azores islands.

Further, Portugal was a major producer of wolfram (tungsten), used in manufacturing war munitions. Portuguese Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar was seemingly impervious to pressure from either side.

Fish was not in Lisbon long enough to make much headway before he died on July 21, 1943. President Salazar attended his

funeral procession, which went from the American Legation to St. George’s Church, escorted by Portuguese cavalry. Fish was later interred in his hometown of DeLand.

A lifelong bachelor with a personal fortune, Fish left a lasting legacy in Florida’s Volusia and Seminole counties by establishing the Bert Fish Testamentary Trust, which built charitable hospitals still in operation today.

The Bert Fish Collection was acquired by Stetson in 2021, as a result of an agreement among the duPont-Ball Library, the Bert Fish Foundation and the West Volusia Historical Society.

CLASSIC COLLECTION ON CAMPUS

Most striking about the duPont-Ball Library’s new collection are two sets of furniture, one Portuguese and the other French. A bookcase and bureau are exquisitely carved in the distinctly Portuguese torcidos e tremidos (“twisted and shaken”) style. Two chairs, a settee and a console table are believed to be examples of the French Empire style, characterized by classical shapes and lines, as well as intricately carved mounts in the shape of mythological griffins.

That elaborate ornamentation reflects the European enthusiasm for ancient civilizations, including the Near East and Egypt, which characterized the Neoclassical era. The exact provenance of those items remains unknown, but it is believed Fish collected the French furniture while in Cairo and acquired the Portuguese set in Lisbon.

The collection also features rare books on Egyptology, scrapbooks brimming with newspaper clippings and ephemera, more than 100 photographs, and some of Fish’s diplomatic correspondence. Furniture and other artifacts are on permanent display within the library, and an online exhibit, called “From Bedford to Lisbon: The Life of Bert Fish,” features collection highlights that illustrate Fish’s life story.

The Bert Fish Collection is open to research and curricular use, and will serve as the basis of future educational and cultural credit events.

Kelly Larson, MLIS, is archivist of Archives & Special Collections at Stetson’s duPont-Ball Library.

Ornamental and elaborate, the Bert Fish Collection is housed at the duPont-Ball Library.

Editor’s note: The Bert Fish Collection was made possible by a generous Deed-of-Gift from the Bert Fish Foundation Inc. of DeLand. Foundation General Manager Alice Reid graciously facilitated the process with the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, resulting in the gift, with leadership provided at Stetson by Sue Ryan, dean of the duPont-Ball Library and Learning Technologies, and vision and support provided by Jackie Kersh, Sarah Thorncroft and Sidney Johnston of the West Volusia Historical Society Inc.