2007 Zenith Medal for Service: Greg Fishel

Greg Fishel was selected as the recipient of the College’s 2007 Zenith Medal for Service.

“Greg Fishel has been an advocate for the College and a partner of our faculty and students, almost from the first day that he arrived in North Carolina,” said Dan Solomon, dean of PAMS.

A native of Pennsylvania, Fishel received his bachelor’s degree from the Pennsylvania State University in 1979. He began his career as a meteorologist at Mesomet, a meteorological and environmental firm, in Chicago. After a stint at WMDT-TV in Salisbury,MD, he came to Raleigh’s WRAL-TV in 1981.

In the nearly three decades since, Fishel – playfully nicknamed “the Fish” – has become a local institution. In 2003, readers of Independent Weekly voted him “the weather forecaster you trust the most.” In many Triangle-area homes, dinner plans are put on hold and bedtimes delayed until Fishel finishes his evening forecast.

Popularity aside, Fishel has the respect of other professionals and scientists in his field. He received the 1985 American Meteorological Society award for broadcast excellence for reporting a March 1984 tornado.He was also recipient of an Emmy award from the Midsouth Region of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for a hurricane special in 2000.

He has received the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Seal of Approval for television and radio and is a member of the broadcast board of the AMS. He was one of six recipients of a Special Award fromthe AMS in 2006 and was the first certified broadcast meteorologist in the U.S. He also is chair of the State Climate Office Advisory Committee and a member of the Advisory Commission for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

From working closely with faculty and students in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences to providing support, both on camera – he volunteered in 2005 to serve as narrator for the first-ever PAMS video – and behind the scenes, Greg Fishel continues to be an invaluable friend to the College.