President Donald Trump on November 21, 2017, selected a car dealer to serve as the next ambassador to America’s oldest ally. David T. Fischer of Troy, Michigan, is Trump’s choice as the next ambassador to Morocco, which was the first country to recognize the U.S. as an independent nation in 1777. Although Fischer has no known connections to Morocco, he gave $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration committee and has donated heavily to Republican candidates for many years. As early as 1988, along with partner Ken Meade, Fischer was a member of Team 100 in honor of donating at least $100,000 to the Republican Party. In 2016, he donated to numerous Republican campaigns, in particular to those of Donald Trump, Senator John McCain of Arizona, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, soon-to-be Indiana Senator Todd Young, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush.

If confirmed by the Senate, Fischer would succeed Dwight L. Bush, Sr., a major Democratic Party donor who served in Rabat from 2014 to 2017.

Born in 1946, David T. Fischer grew up in southeastern Michigan, where his father owned Suburban Oldsmobile, a car dealership in the town of Troy, Michigan. He studied Business at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, circa 1964 to 1968. Widely known during that period as “Flunk Out U.” because it admitted so many students who had flunked out at other schools, Parsons’ reputation as a party school where no GPA was too low began to catch up with it while Fischer was there, and the school closed in 1973.

In 1968, Fischer began his career as a service advisor at his dad’s dealership, which he took over in 1978. Now known as The Suburban Collection, the company is the 16th largest automotive retail dealer group in the United States, encompassing 36 brands at more than 52 locations, all but one in Michigan. In 1987, Fischer was president of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association. He is currently chairman and chief executive officer, as well as president and chairman emeritus of the North American International Auto Show.

In 2004, Fischer was involved in an unusual federal lawsuit when he sued a neighbor in Palm Beach, Florida, because the neighbor’s 72-foot sailboat got loose during Hurricane Frances and crashed into the dock of Fischer’s $5.3 million home.

Fischer is a major philanthropist in the Detroit area. He serves on the board of trustees for the College for Creative Studies, where he led the financing and renovation of the historic Argonaut building. Fischer has also served on boards for The Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan, WTVS public broadcasting station, and is a past chair of the board of trustees for Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.

Fischer is a member of the State of Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, although his term ends on December 31, 2017.

Fischer and his wife, Jennifer Fischer, have three adult sons.

-Matt Bewig, David Wallechinsky

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Trump Nominates Suburban Collection’s David Fischer for Ambassador to Morocco (by Dustin Walsh, Crain’s Detroit Business)

Auto Dealer Fischer Tapped to be Morocco Ambassador (by Michael Gerstein, Detroit News)