Ken Fischer passed peacefully on Feb. 5, 2021 following a valiant three-year battle with cancer of the lung. Throughout, Ken demonstrated his strength, vitality and amiable relationships with numerous friends and with his loving companion and wife of 39 years, Jackie Fischer, always at his side.
Ken was born Aug. 13, 1952 to Myra and Stewart Fischer in San Antonio, Texas. His parents precede him in passing. Ken leaves family members Jackie Fischer, companion and wife; Sister Nancy Shindler and husband Don; Nephew Jeff and wife Mandy Shindler and children Kinley and Cade; Nephew Greg and wife Megan Shindler and children Caelub and Kyla. He also leaves friends and colleagues numbering in the hundreds from all across the globe.
After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Business Administration, Ken worked at Cinco Drilling and South Texas Drilling in supervisory positions and as Vice President. Following eight years of administrative work at UT, he joined the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) where during his 22 years he served in a variety of business development roles and then as International Vice President.
Ken’s life was one of constant accomplishment. His first international travel was at age 17 as a foreign exchange student. During his 22 years as a Vice-President at the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) he was to visit an additional 54 countries on assignments.
From his ranch in Gonzales, Ken rode out on assignments that led him from the North Sea of Europe, to the deserts of the Middle East and farther onward into Southeast Asia, China and Russia. There was a commonly held idea that this lanky Texan was a “cowboy”. He was, but much more than that: he was a representative of what was best about IADC and the USA. Ken adapted and related genuinely and easily to people whether Asian, Arabic or Western.
Ken retired with Jackie to their ranch in Gonzales, Texas where Ken enjoyed everything cowboy: raising livestock, owning and riding horses; attending rodeos and cowboy poetry readings. Ken and Jackie were as comfortable fly fishing in Wyoming as they were visiting friends on the Malabar Coast in Kerala, India. In Texas, Ken and Jackie volunteered to help others assisting in hurricane and flood recovery and cleanup.
Ken died of complication from Neuroendocrine cancer of the lung. He donated his body to the University of Texas Medical School, Houston. A celebration of Ken’s life and his burial will take place at a later date in the Fischer Cemetery.
Donations may be made to the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation or MD Anderson Cancer Center.
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