Top 10 facts about Doris Fisher

By Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Scalable Grid Engine – Own work, Wikipedia

Top 10 facts about Doris Fisher

Doris Fisher was born on 23rd August 1931.   She is an American billionaire businesswoman who co-founded The Gap clothing store with her late husband Donald Fisher in 1969. Don and Doris got married in 1953. Doris and Don Fisher had a simple idea to make it easier to find a pair of jeans in 1969 they revolutionized the retail industry by opening the first gap store on ocean avenue in San Francisco. The Gap is a multinational clothing and accessories retailer. She was born in San Francisco California. She is the daughter of Dorothy Bamberger of New York and B. Joseph Feigenbaum. Doris has two siblings Ann F. Rossi and Joseph L. Feigenbaum. Doris graduated from Stanford University making her one of the first women to earn an Economics degree. She has a net worth of $ 2.2 Billion.

1. She Co-founded the Gap clothing store

By Coolcaesar at the English-language Wikipedia

Doris Fisher co-founded the Gap clothing store with her husband Donald Fisher in 1969. What inspired them to open the store was that don had bought two pairs of pants unfortunately they didn’t fit him so they decided to look for a pant that would fit him.

 They had struggled to find jeans that would fit Donald. And so they decided to open a shop. They decided to sell Levi’s jeans and records.  They saved 63000 dollars to open the store and by the time a year was coming to pass they had made a profit of 2 million dollars. They delivered a fun shopping experience and the concept caught on. They expanded their company into a major global brand with more than 3200 stores

Within three years the business had bloomed so much. They introduced The Gap brand of jeans T-shirts and sweatshirts and eventually phased out the other brands. By 1991 Don Fisher claimed the label was the second-best-selling brand in American clothing behind Levi’s. the company portfolio today includes Gap Banana republic Old navy Athleta and Piprlime.

3. Her marriage life

Doris and Don Fisher were both born in San Francisco. They were long-time family friends. Don married Doris in 1953. Don was an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. Together they co-founded Gap inc. clothing in 1969. Together the couple used to collect art, they collected 1100 artworks by 185 artists. They were blessed with three sons Robert J. Fisher William S. Fisher and John J. Fisher. They too have participated in managing the business and ensuring its continued growth. Later the husband passed away in 2009. She and her sons manage the business to foresee the daily growth.

3. She took part in politics

Doris Fisher and her family have quietly become among the largest political funders of charter school efforts in the country. Much of her money goes to promoting pro-charter school candidates and organizations. Doris` passion for charter schools also fuels her political donations. The Fishers contributed 5.6 million dollars to state political campaigns between 2013 and 2016 and much of their money goes to charter schools. However, Fisher`s philanthropic and political efforts are not as straightforward as simply promoting education. They also donated money for the KIPP contributing to its success. Doris Fisher has been a passive politician.

4. Doris Fisher as a Philanthropist

Doris and Donald Fisher, the founders of Gap, Inc., established the Doris and Donald Fisher Fund in San Francisco. The Fisher Fund seeks to promote innovation and leverage improvement in the United States K-12 public education system by investing in organizations whose programs, policies, or services raise student achievement, foster competition, and otherwise broaden the public’s ability to provide a high-quality education to all students, particularly those from traditionally underserved communities. The Fisher Fund promotes the establishment and replication of high-performing public charter schools, innovative human capital initiatives, and state and federal public policy solutions. Innovative organizations that have received grants from the Fund include KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) and Teach For America.

5. Together with her husband they  co-founded the KIPP Foundation

Doris and her husband co-founded KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program), which has been one of their most inspiring projects. The foundation supports charter schools by donating $15 million. Doris and her husband chose pieces that they could share and encourage a love of art in their children. She has approximately 1100 pieces of art created by 185 artists. Her art collection is thought to be as valuable as her Gap stock.

6. The couple turned a saving of 63,000 into a renowned empire

By Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Scalable Grid Engine – Own work, Wikipedia

After Don could not find the right size for a pair of jeans at clothing stores in San Francisco, the couple came up with the idea of making it easier to find a pair of jeans thus leading to the establishment of The Gap. In 1969, they revolutionized the retail company by opening the first Gap store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco. Doris and her husband started by raising a saving of 63,000 dollars to start the business. Barreling in mind that these people had never started a business before was a high risk they were taking. With that little money, by the time the year was coming to an end they had made a profit of more than 2 million.
As a result of this, they expanded the business into many stores turning it into a massive corporation that operated with thousands of locations worldwide. It created room for employment for many people. As a result of excessive growth, the company outgrew some brands such as Athleta, Forth & Towne, Banana republic, and old navy.

7. Fisher and her family are ranked as one the largest landowners

With a total landmass of approximately 3.5 million square miles, the United States is the world’s third-largest country by landmass, trailing only China and Russia. The federal government owns more than 25% of all land. However, a small number of wealthy individuals and families own a significant portion of the property.

Therefore Doris the co-founder of The Gap together with her sons was ranked as one of the 30 largest landowners in the US. It is recorded that they own 440,000 acres in California alone where they reside. Additionally, apart from being great landowners, they also own approximately 43% of the company’s shares. At the peak of the company’s performers, Doris and her family receive more than $100 Million a year in dividends alone.

8. She has an interest in art

The atrium of the museum before the 2016 renovation. By Wgreaves –Wikipedia

The Doris and Don Fisher collections are one of the world’s greatest private collections of contemporary art. Doris Fisher is well known for her interest in the arts. Together with her husband spent time collecting prints in the mid-1970s. Later on, they expanded their efforts to include paintings, sculptures, and drawings. When they had gathered enough, they loaned the arts to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This is because she wanted them to be well preserved and to enhance the continuity of art culture. They developed their knowledge by visiting galleries, museums, and artists’ studios around the world. 
As a result, she loaned to the museum consisting of 1,100 works by 185 artists which included Richard Serra, Ellsworth Kelly, and Andy Warhol. She has donated too much to the museum and as a result, today the museum is the largest modern art museum in the United States. Interestingly Fisher’s belief in the power of art to enrich lives and spur creativity led them to share much with Gap customers and employees.

9. Fisher and her family donated to the non-profit group that campaigned against Barack Obama in the 2012 election

Americans for Job Security, which is a nonprofit group with a boring name, spent $5 million supporting Republicans in the 2010 midterm elections and $15 million opposing former President Obama in the 2012 election, but the group was never required to file disclosures showing where its money came from until this week. Later on, it was disclosed that there were at least 20 Billionaires that opposed him. They were behind the ‘Dark Money’ Group That Opposed Obama.
However, Doris, along with her sons Robert J. Fisher, William S. Fisher, and John J. Fisher, was said to have donated nearly $9 million to Americans for Job Security, a non-profit group that campaigned against Barack Obama in the 2012 election

10. Her religious and educational background

Doris F. Fisher was born on the 23rd of August 1931 in San Francisco, California, united states, and was Jewish from birth. She attended the University of California Berkeley and studied for a degree in economics. Doris graduated from Stanford university, as one of the first women to earn an Economics degree. She was married to her husband Donald who was their long-time family friend in 1953 and had three children together. In 1969 she co-founded The Gap Apparel Stores with her husband. They used to collect art together with her husband and they loaned them to a museum. They used to visit galleries, museums, and arts together which inspired their choice Together they managed to collect 1100 pieces of art.