Nicholas Fish II

Nicholas Fish II (February 19, 1846–September 16, 1902) was an American diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland from 1877 to 1881 and the U.S. ambassador to Belgium from 1882 to 1885. In a widely reported crime of the time known as the "sensation of the day,"

Fish was a member of the long prominent, and wealthy, Fish family that was closely associated with politics from the Revolutionary War times through modern times with members serving as Lt. Governors and Governors of New York, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and many diplomats. His father served as Governor of New York from 1849 to 1851, U.S. Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and the Secretary of State under Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes from 1869 until his retirement in 1877.

He was educated at Columbia University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1867 and a Master of Arts in 1871. While there, he was a member of the Fraternity of Delta Psi (St. Anthony Hall).

He also attended Harvard Law School earning a Bachelor of Laws in 1869.

Career Following his graduation from law school, he practiced law in New York City, then went into the diplomatic service.

Family In 1869, Fish married Clemence Smith Bryce (1847–1908), the daughter of Major James Smith Bryce. who was married to Edith Cooper, the daughter of New York Mayor Edward Cooper. Together, they were the parents of two children:

Elizabeth Fish (1870–1954), who married Robert Burnside Potter, an architect who was the son of Maj. Gen. Robert Brown Potter and the nephew of Bishop Henry Codman Potter, in 1889.

Together, they lived at 53 Irving Place near Grammercy Park in New York City and maintained a residence in Tuxedo Park, New York. According to The New York Times, the two women he was with that night "were well known in that vicinity. They live in West Thirty-fourth Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, and are usually accompanied by two men, one a salesman of jewelry." Thomas J. Sharkey was convicted of manslaughter and subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison. Fish was buried at Saint Philip's Church Cemetery in Garrison, New York. In 1903, his widow sold their home in Irving Place. She died in 1908. and the great-grandfather of Hamilton Fish Potter, Jr. (d. 1997), also a Harvard lawyer who worked in banking.