Jerry Michael Fischer

Jerry Fischer, a devout follower of Jesus Christ, died February 7, 2019, in Hobart. Jerry was born in Hobart August 22, 1934, to Fred and Edna Fischer. He married Rose Marie Snoddy in 1957 and they had three sons, David of Granbury, TX; Phillip of Hobart and Steven of San Antonio.

Jerry was reared on a farm, and worked with machinery as soon as he could hold a wrench. His family of German decent was always designing improvements on machinery or inventing new equipment for their own use. Before he could see over the dashboard without kneeling in the seat, he was driving in the fields and for short distances on farm roads, using a foot-long extension on the tractor clutch to plow and cultivate crops. Due to allergies, his father suggested engineering as an alternate profession.
After graduating from Oklahoma A&M College (OSU) in 1957 with a Mechanical Engineering degree, Design option, he worked for John Deere in Des Moines, Iowa. Shortly after his employment at John Deere, Uncle Sam required his services for a two-year vacation and camping trip in Aberdeen, MD, and El Paso, TX, as a lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps. Back at John Deere after completing military service, he became the resident hydraulics and ergonomics expert and also worked toward a Master's Degree at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

In an attempt to find a more hospitable climate six years after he went to work for John Deere, he accepted a position with Collins Radio, Richardson, Texas, where he met a man involved in starting a plastic molding operation--taking a plastic product from conception to finished and packaged or any portion thereof. Working nights and weekends, Jerry did engineering for the new company, All Plastics Molding, and soon became plant manager.
He opened the doors of Tools and Troubleshooting, Inc. in Hobart, Oklahoma, in 1975, where he designed and built steel molds for manufacturing plastic parts.

While building a family of molds for an East Texas company, it became economically feasible to become an instrument-rated pilot and deliver the molds to the East Texas company by air. He tested the molds on the customers' machines to leave no doubt but that the mold would produce satisfactory parts. Delivering the molds by air and testing them required only one day, whereas ground delivery required a full day of driving each way and another (partial) day for the test for each of the approximately 50 molds he built for this customer.
As an adjunct professor, Jerry taught drafting and Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) at Western Oklahoma State College for several years. In developing the course syllabus, he saw a need for a textbook and wrote two versions of "A B C DesignCAD" and one book for New Riders Publications titled, "Inside DesignCAD." After several years designing in 2D, he acquired NC equipment and researched the available 3D packages, eventually choosing VISI CAD-CAM for product design and NC tool path generation. He also authored the "Handbook of Molded Part Shrinkage and Warpage," (about controlling the shrink and warp in molded plastic parts).
He has been a Registered Professional Engineer and a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers since 1966 and served on the international board of directors of the Mold Making and Mold Design Division of SPE. He presented papers and moderated technical sessions at the Annual Technical Conferences and was named Mold Maker of the Year in 2005. He enjoyed snow skiing, bicycling, playing keyboard and trombone, photography, woodworking, flying, three cruises and teaching ballroom dancing.

For many years, he served as chairman of Hobart's Zoning Board of Adjustments; he also chaired the Kiowa County Metropolitan Area Planning and Zoning Commission to plan to write the county zoning ordinances. Tools and Troubleshooting, Inc. maintains the city maps, updates and prints them as needed by the city. He was a Hobart Boy Scout master while all three sons earned Eagle Scout.

Jerry is survived by his wife of the home and three sons; daughters-in-law, Cheryl, Lou Ann and Patricia; his sister Carol; and nine grandchildren- Sarah, Sean, Ryan, Joshua, Jordan, Emma, Katelyn, Alex and Sophie. He has four great-grandchildren--Noah, Jack, Jeremiah and Kadence; one niece--Julie Hanna; four nephews--Mike, Gene, Daniel, Kevin.

Graveside: 2:00 p.m., Sunday, February 10, 2019
Hobart Rose Cemetery
Hobart, Oklahoma
Services are under the direction of Ray & Martha's Funeral Home, Hobart, Oklahoma.