He may have been fighting colon cancer for two years, but that did not prevent Professor Richard Fish from continuing to teach, hold office hours and advise former students who kept in touch with him over the years.

Fish, 67, succumbed to cancer last Wednesday morning, but he had continued to teach his organic chemistry class until the previous week. By the weekend, the chemistry department, where Fish worked for 37 years, had begun receiving calls from former students.

“We?ve been getting phone calls from as far back as New Orleans,” said Evelyn Owens, administrative coordinator the chemistry department.Fish?s widow, Madeleine Fish, said that a number of his former students visited her this weekend as well.

“So many of them said, ?If it wasn?t for him, I wouldn?t be where I am today,?” she said.

In addition to teaching, Fish spent many years as the coordinator for the chemistry graduate program. His wife said he spent hours going over theses and writing letters of recommendation so his students could get into medical school.

Fish received his doctorate from Michigan State University in 1960, held fellowships at Brandeis University and the University of California, Berkeley, and came to Sacramento State in 1964. During his tenure at Sac State he organized the Minority Organization of Science Students and received several awards, including the chemistry department?s Outstanding Teacher Award, which was started because of his influence on T.H. Cheng, one of his former students, Owens said.

A scholarship in Fish?s name has been established, and a memorial service is being scheduled for January. More information can be obtained by e-mailing [email protected], an account being managed by his wife.

“He was ill, but he continued to do what he wanted to do ? teaching,” she said.