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Robert B. Fiske Jr., First to Lead Whitewater Investigation, Dies at 94
Source: New York Times
Robert B. Fiske Jr., a distinguished federal prosecutor in New York and the first independent counsel to investigate the role of Bill and Hillary Clinton in a failed land development venture before Mr. Clinton became president, the legacy of which bedeviled his administration as the Whitewater affair, died on Thursday at his home in Darien, Conn. He was 94.
The cause was pancreatic cancer, said Elkan Abramowitz, a close friend who was the first chief of the criminal division of the Southern District of New York when Mr. Fiske ran the office as the United States attorney in the late 1970s.
A moderate Republican, Mr. Fiske had also been a partner in a white-shoe New York law firm when Attorney General Janet Reno appointed him independent counsel in the Whitewater matter in January 1994.
The cause was pancreatic cancer, said Elkan Abramowitz, a close friend who was the first chief of the criminal division of the Southern District of New York when Mr. Fiske ran the office as the United States attorney in the late 1970s.
A moderate Republican, Mr. Fiske had also been a partner in a white-shoe New York law firm when Attorney General Janet Reno appointed him independent counsel in the Whitewater matter in January 1994.
(snip)
Mr. Fiske developed a reputation early on for winning tough cases against organized crime, starting with the 1960 trial of John Dioguardi, a labor racketeer known as Johnny Dio. After repeated failed attempts by the government to make a conviction against Mr. Dioguardi stick, Mr. Fiske, then just 28 years old, managed to get him sentenced to four years in prison on tax evasion charges.
(snip)
One, in 1977, capped the prosecution of Nicky Barnes, a Harlem drug kingpin who had been known as “Mr. Untouchable” for having eluded conviction in four earlier cases.
President Jimmy Carter called Mr. Fiske’s prosecution of him “the most important in the country” because of the way Mr. Barnes had seemed to flout the law.
President Jimmy Carter called Mr. Fiske’s prosecution of him “the most important in the country” because of the way Mr. Barnes had seemed to flout the law.
(snip)
Mr. Fiske’s brief time as the Whitewater special counsel did produce a few noteworthy results.
Weeks before he was replaced, he issued his first and only report on the progress of his investigation. It included his finding that Vincent W. Foster Jr. — the deputy White House counsel and a former partner with Mrs. Clinton in a law firm that had represented a savings and loan institution that was later implicated in a Whitewater-related fraud — had died by suicide and had not been murdered, as some were contending.
The finding infuriated the Clintons’ most vocal opponents, who asserted that Mr. Foster was more likely killed to keep him from telling investigators what he knew.
Weeks before he was replaced, he issued his first and only report on the progress of his investigation. It included his finding that Vincent W. Foster Jr. — the deputy White House counsel and a former partner with Mrs. Clinton in a law firm that had represented a savings and loan institution that was later implicated in a Whitewater-related fraud — had died by suicide and had not been murdered, as some were contending.
The finding infuriated the Clintons’ most vocal opponents, who asserted that Mr. Foster was more likely killed to keep him from telling investigators what he knew.
Full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/us/robert-b-fiske-jr-dead.html