Cheryl Smith Fisher

Cheryl Smith Fisher became a member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees in 2013, and was elected chair in 2019.

Fisher is counsel to the Buffalo-based law firm Magavern Magavern Grimm LLP, where she practices in the areas of employment law and professional responsibility and is Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York. She formerly served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of New York.

A past chair of the board of directors of Child and Family Services of Erie County, Inc., in 2000, she received that board’s John N. Walsh Jr. Board Appreciation Award for commitment to strengthening family life in western New York.

She is a past chair of the Committee on Character and Fitness, Eighth Judicial District and was formerly co-chair of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics. She has served as vice president of the New York State Bar Association and member of the Executive Committee and House of Delegates. She is also a member of the Women’s Bar Association. Fisher has been a presenter at many Continuing Legal Education programs in the areas of Ethics, Not-for-Profit Law, Commercial and Employment Law.

A resident of Buffalo, NY, Fisher graduated cum laude from State University of New York at Oswego and cum laude from University at Buffalo Law School, where she taught research and writing.