Lockley, Fred. "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the Sea." Vol. 2. S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928. p. 640. ISAAC NEWTON FLEISCHNER For years Isaac Newton Fleischner occupied a place of prominence in business circles of Portland as a partner in the well known firm of Fleischner, Mayer & Company, the largest wholesale dry goods house on the Pacific coast and also the oldest. In educational and philanthropic affairs and other lines of public service he took a leading part and was termed "the most sincere sportsman in Oregon." His was a many-sided, forceful personality and his life was symmetrical and complete. Mr. Fleischner was born July 16, 1859, in Albany, Linn county, Oregon, and his parents, Jacob and Fannie (Nadler) Fleischner, were natives of Bohemia, Austria. They followed the tide of immigration to the new world and in 1852 made the overland journey to Oregon. Jacob Fleischner was the proprietor of one of the first stores in Albany and in the "60s moved to Portland, where he and his wife spent their remaining years. In the acquirement of an education Isaac N. Fleischner attended the Portland Academy and continued his studies in St. Augustine's College at Benicia, California, graduating with the class of 1878. He returned to Portland and soon afterward entered the employ of Fleischner, Mayer & Company. His ability was at once apparent and as his experience increased he was intrusted with greater responsibilities, eventually becoming a member of the firm. He combined a capacity for detail with the ability to think in large terms and his well formulated plans constituted an effective force in the expansion of the business, at the same time increasing the prestige of the firm. Business however, constituted but one phase of Mr. Fleischner's life and in the cause of charity he was always a leader. At the time of the disastrous flood in Heppner, Oregon, which resulted in the destruction of much valuable property and the loss of three hundred lives, he was placed at the head of the relief committee organized in Portland. So well did he direct its activities that more than the necessary funds were provided for that emergency. After the San Francisco earthquake and fire he was chairman of the relief bureau established by the Portland Oregonian and through his efforts a fund of about three hundred thousand dollars was raised and disbursed. He was elected treasurer of the Open Air Sanitarium and became vice president of the Associated Charities of Portland. Mr. Fleischner was first vice president of the Lewis and Clark Exposition and chairman of the press and publishing committees which had charge of publicity. For many years he was a member of the school board and served as its president for some time. The Merchants Protective Association chose him as its president and for two years he was secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, at the same time acting as chairman of the relief committee of the Portland Commercial Club. Soon after its formation he was appointed a member of the state game commission, on which he served for about a quarter of a century, and at his death on December 1, 1927, was its chairman. In San Francisco, California, Mr. Fleischner was married in 1892 to Miss Tessie Goslinsky, who preceded him in death. He was survived by two daughters, Mrs. William H. Ehrman and Mrs. Harold F. Wendel; a brother, Max Fleischner, who died in March, 1928, and three sisters, Mrs. Solomon Blumauer and Mrs. Rudolph, who live in Portland, and Mrs. George H. Davis, of New York city. A connoisseur of Art, Mr. Fleischner had a fine collection of paintings, secured during his European travels, and his library contained rare manuscripts, curios and books. Works of art of every description ornamented his home and in their selection he displayed impeccable taste. An adherent of the Jewish faith, he was affiliated with Temple Beth Israel. He was a member of the Concordia Club and his fraternal connections were with the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In his life Mr. Fleischner exemplified all that is admirable in conduct and character, and to know him was to be his friend. The following tribute was paid to him by one of the local papers: "It were difficult to name the many interests, all of them honest and kindly, that suffer loss in the passing of I. N. Fleischner. Surely the state has lost a citizen, in the deeper meaning of the word, and surely field and forest, lake and stream, and every creature thereof, have lost a most sincere and loyal friend. Among his fellowmen his friends were many, and yet it may be said of him, without dispargement of the fine quality of his friendship, that he 'loved not man the less, but nature more.' "He was the nephew of a great pioneer merchant, Colonel Louis Fleischner, but the commercial responsibilities to which he succeeded were his by virtue of fitness rather than by an accident of inheritance. He was thorough. It was a marked trait, and it characterized his business enterprise, his public service, his contact with friends, and his enjoyment of the outdoors. Of an amiable and easy disposition, he was nevertheless inflexible in matters of principle. There have been few men more uniformly and unobtrusively cheerful. "It used to be -- for all that is now of the past -- that as his later years came upon him, and he devoted more and more time to angling and to those investigations incumbent upon him as the eldest member and chairman of the state game commission, one might often find him far from the city and in most lonely places. Such places as lakes and river banks. Some one would come up stream to that eddy where you were fishing, that riffle which twirled your fly, and say to you 'What luck?' -- and then, 'I. N. is down the river a mile or so.' It might be raining or it might be bright with sunshine. That made no difference. He had the heart of Walton. A lake in the dunes, a lake but little known, where landlocked steelhead rise. And often the boatman would say to you, 'Are you from Portland? I guess you know Mr. Fleischner? He landed a big one off that point yesterday.' People who frequent the waters where trout are found were always cutting his trail -- the pleasant, friendly trail of I. N. Fleischner. "As to his service to this city and state, it is remembered -- among many services -- that he was tireless, efficient and constructive upon the school board of the state's largest district. But who shall say, or what records may disclose, the full benefit of his mature and helpful opinions as to game and fish propagation and conservation? Sportsmen have sound reason to remember him as a friend beloved, and so have all friends of his. He is down the river a little way." ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in March 2006 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.