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‘Never heals’: Max Fishman, seen in this undated photo with his grandchildren, Karen and Jeff Shapiro, was slain during the Blizzard of ’78. One of his killers is seeking parole.

Two days after the Blizzard of ’78 paralyzed New England, 54 dead in its path, Max Fishman was granted dispensation by police to ignore the driving ban and deliver emergency home heating oil to stranded residents of Roxbury.
But instead of stemming the storm of the century’s casualties, Fishman, 64, became one of them, shot in the head in a snow drift on Wyoming Street by three youth who had hoped to rob him
Now, 30 years later, one of Fishman’s killers wants out of prison. Tomorrow, Gerald Hill, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, will go before the state Parole Board for the seventh time since 1993.
“It’s been a long time, but not long enough for him to walk the streets. Definitely not long enough,” Fishman’s daughter, Sandra Shapiro, 62, said of Hill.
Hill - who was a child of 15 awaiting trial for his role in the 1977 fatal stabbing of Leo Murphy when Fishman was murdered - was actually granted parole in 2006 by a 4-2 vote of the board, despite noting his “65 disciplinary reports” and “disruptive and sometimes violent behavior” in its decision.
He was required to successfully complete six months in a prerelease program, but remains at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater. Tomorrow, it’s expected he’ll ask the board why.
Hill’s attorney could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Shapiro’s husband Donald, who has held her hand through her three-decade ordeal, said, “It’s like an open wound that never heals.”
Fishman, a Marine Corps veteran and auxiliary officer for the Randolph Police Department, “was wonderful,” his son-in-law said. “He helped us buy our first house. He absolutely loved his grandchildren.”
Triggerman Hubert Smith Jr., 50, is serving life without parole for Fishman’s murder. Jeffrey Lewis pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1978 for his role in the killing and was sentenced to 8 to 10 years.
Seven months after Fishman was killed, his wife Rose followed him to the grave.
“She truly died of a broken heart,” Sandra Shapiro believes.
“For the longest time, I was more bitter and more sad and more everything than I am right now,” she said, “but there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of my father and the good that he was doing. We never thought we would have to deal with something like this.”

http://bostonherald.com/news/regiona...icleid=1094956

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