of Mabelvale, AR

July 26, 1927 - January 7, 2020

Louis H. Fish passed over on January 7, 2020, 8 years after his beloved wife of 61 years, Doris, preceded by two brothers, William and Gerald; three sisters, Mildred, Ruth, and Diana, and survived by one sister, Gwen and R.V. Haygood. Also surviving are children, Karen and Jerry Moore, Ray and Pam Fish, Richard and Lola Fish, and Judy Fish; grandchildren, Amanda and Ryan Terry, Cameron and Elizabeth Cogbill, Ben Fish, Jonathan Fish, Samantha Fish, Josh and Whitney Lowery, Seth and Savannah Lowery, and great-grandchildren, Madelyn and Hunter Terry, Caroline and Catherine Cogbill, and Virginia Lynn and Fletcher Lowery.

Louis was born to William Albion Fish and Eula Hunter Fish on July 26, 1927 of Star City, Arkansas. His father was a farmer who put himself through college and became a teacher, revenue agent, county clerk, sheriff, county judge and principal of Star City High School during Prohibition and the Great Depression. Louis loved roaming the wooded countryside as a boy and in high school, he met the love of his life, Doris. After a short time in the Navy near the end of WWII, he entered the University of Arkansas and followed after his older brother William into the profession of electrical engineering, graduating in 1950.

On graduation, engineering jobs were scarce but he eventually found work briefly with Arkansas Power and Light and married Doris intent on starting a family. Fate intervened, requiring a 3-year treatment for TB. After recovery, he moved his wife and then 2-year old daughter Karen to Shreveport to take a job with Southwestern Electric Power Company for 10 years in a position that exposed him to every element required to build a utility with generation, transmission, and distribution. In 1964, on hearing that Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation had completed building its first power plant, Fitzhugh at Ozark, he contacted CEO Harry Oswald, whom he had met hitchhiking home from college. AECC cleaned out a closet for his office and hired him on as their first engineer. In 1964 he moved Doris, Karen, Ray, Richard, and Judy to Little Rock.

Oswald gave him a free hand, so he hired excellent people and built a first-class engineering, planning and technical organization, responsible to the CEO and Board of Directors of the 17 member co-ops. He was known as a man of integrity and honesty, by his people as a generous mentor and kind leader, and by all as persistent in principle and flexible in non-essentials. He led by the example of ''doing the right thing''. His dedication to his people and to his obligation to the co-op members was second only to that of his family. A staff member likened him to a tree with deep roots able to stand its ground but willing to yield when necessary, ''one of the great people of the world''. At one critical point, the Board of Directors awarded him a tee shirt emblazoned ''In Fish We Trust''.

For 32 years under his leadership AECC developed from an unformed fledgling company into a fully functioning generation and transmission utility serving 17-member distribution co-ops, some 75[%] of Arkansas' land area and 25[%] of its population. It constructed and operated hundreds of miles of transmission lines and substations, two gas/oil plants, three hydroelectric plants, and partially owned four coal plants. Because utilities were beginning to interconnect into grids, AECC joined and helped develop the Southwest Power Pool. On his retirement, CEO Gary Voigt noted that the foundations laid ensured ''the long term financial and corporate stability to meet (AECC's) obligations''. Louis always credited his staff, the board, Harry Oswald and lawyer Leland Leatherman for the significant achievements of AECC during his tenure, but they were always quick to point out that much of the credit goes to him.

Louis was a life-long member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, IEEE, and National Society of Professional Engineers, NSPE. In 1980 he became a charter member of the U of A electrical engineering department sponsored Arkansas Academy of Electrical Engineers and served on the board of that organization from 1982-1984. At the 2017 Academy induction ceremony including his youngest daughter, he was pleased to share a table with his oldest professional colleague and friend Maurice Robinson. On that occasion, students from the U of A electrical engineering school gave him the honor of personally returning his photo that had been hanging in the electrical engineering student lounge inspiring engineering students for many years.

Even with all his accomplishments, his family was his first priority. He was fully active and engaged in their lives and present for their significant events. He involved them in his work life, spent his leisure time in their enrichment, and planned long educational family travel vacations, his thought being always to teach and provide them with the inner resources for a fruitful life.

Visitation will be at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 11 at Mabelvale United Methodist Church, funeral service will follow at 2:00 p.m. Graveside will be at 2:00 p.m., January 12 in the Community Cemetery at Cornerville, Arkansas

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