Rob Fichman has called Canton home for 29 years.

He and his wife Sue Harrington, a local veterinarian

and Canton Select Board Member, raised three

children here, all graduates of Canton public

schools! 

 

Rob has been a Professor at Boston College's

Carroll School of Management for nearly three

decades. His academic focus is digital innovation.

He served as Chair of the Information Systems

Department for eleven years, and received the

Carroll School's Distinguished Service Award in

2020. He currently serves on the Carroll School

Teaching Committee, where he is exploring

different options for building students' fluency in artificial intelligence.

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This would be Rob’s first foray into public service in Canton — not counting his years as volunteer photographer for the many Canton school drama productions that his wife costumed! But he has been deeply service-oriented throughout his professional life, and the skills he has developed there — collaborative decision-making, strategic planning, a commitment to excellence in education and learning — translate naturally to the library trustee role.

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Rob was not always a reader. But one summer as a teenager, almost by accident, he picked up a James Bond book from his dad’s vast Ian Fleming collection—and soon he was hooked. Next came science fiction from Asimov and Heinlein, fantasy from Tolkien, and eventually a wide-ranging love of books that has stayed with him ever since. He knows first-hand that a love of reading can arrive unexpectedly, at any age. That experience shapes how he thinks about libraries: at their best, they are not just repositories of books, but places where people can discover and expand their worlds — through books (of course), but also through technology, programs, community connection, and simply being somewhere that welcomes everyone.

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That is exactly what Rob sees when he looks at the Canton Public Library. He is proud of what this community has built: a beautiful and historic building, with a skilled and dedicated staff, a rich collection of physical and digital resources, vibrant programs for children and teens and adults, and a location right in downtown Canton, close to schools and the residential areas where access to library resources matters most. He has toured the library, met with the director, and studied the Strategic Plan — and he is enthusiastic about the library's vision for its future.

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Rob's most immediate priority as a trustee would be to support the $1.4 million to be requested at Town Meeting to fund interior renovations — restoring the library's historic spaces and redesigning other spaces to better serve all of its diverse community members. This investment is the next chapter in the library's long story of growth and renewal, and Rob wants to help make it happen.

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Rob would be honored to help the Canton Public Library reach its full potential to be — in the words of its own Strategic Plan — a true "hub of the community." 

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To vote for Rob, please clearly write “Rob Fichman, 45 Spruce Ln” (or place a sticker with this info) on the write-in line in the Library Board area of your April 7th ballot, then fill in the oval on the same line.